Annual Report 2013 Report Annual Norcap Annual Report

NORCAP ANNUAL REPORT 2013 REPORT ANNUAL NORCAP ANNUAL REPORT

www.NORCAPweb.no GOOD PEOPLE OUR GREATEST RESOURCE

Photos: Lars Aune FOREWORD

I personally witnessed, almost 300 roster members undertook assignments to with great pride, improve national and international actors’ preparedness the effectiveness of and responsiveness in 53 countries. Norwegian Capacity (NORCAP) experts In accordance with its mandate, NORCAP’s support on the frontlines of spanned a variety of areas, with emphasis on UN-led humanitarian response relief efforts, but considerable activity on more long-term during the last half resilience and peace initiatives as well. In response to of 2013. As new the widely recognised need for improved coordination Secretary General of emergency efforts, numerous experts were deployed of the Norwegian to reinforce coordination mechanisms both at headquar- Refugee Council, it ters and country levels. An increasing number of roster was good to meet members were also deployed to strengthen national and our deployed experts regional resilience building related to both conflict- and working on the Syrian natural disaster-induced crises. refugee response in Lebanon and Jordan Providing the right person at the right time and place as well as in the requires focused roster management. NORCAP places continued turmoil of great emphasis on competence development and staff Afghanistan. There is much praise to be heard from bene- care for roster members. In 2013, the system for follow-up ficiaries and humanitarian partners as well. It underscores with deployees saw an overhaul, with improved reporting the way in which even a single NORCAP envoy can help systems for experts in the field and more comprehensive provide relief for and protection of those in need. When debriefings upon their return. NORCAP’s results were I helped set up the Norwegian humanitarian standby force also increasingly disseminated in print and social media, 23 years ago, little did I know that it would become the including regular updates about our work in the field on most-used and most-flexible expert deployment system NORCAP’s website, www.norcapweb.no. in the humanitarian world. NORCAP’s partners report that the roster’s flexibility and In 2013, the humanitarian community’s response capac- rapid deployment of high-quality personnel is invaluable to ity was challenged on several fronts by consequences of their operations. NORCAP will continue to strengthen the conflicts and natural disasters. Civil war in Syria, inter- UN’s and other international and national actors’ capaci- communal violence in Myanmar, Typhoon Haiyan in the ties in the coming year. At the same time, we constantly Philippines and unrest in the Democratic Republic of strive to ensure that an effective deployment process Congo, Mali, South Sudan and Somalia created large- enables our experts to provide the best possible support scale displacement, infrastructure damage and pressing to people in need. humanitarian needs. These were only some of the many situations that required comprehensive responses from We wish to thank the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Af- the international community in the past year. fairs, partners and roster members for their cooperation and support during the past year, and we look forward to Since its inception in 1991, NORCAP, the Norwegian continued collaboration in 2014. Refugee Council’s standby roster, has deployed nearly 8000 experts in support of humanitarian relief and resilience building around the world. Well-grounded in Norwegian humanitarian policies, the roster continues to deliver highly sought-after expertise to the United Nations Jan Egeland and other international crisis operations. In 2013 alone, Secretary General of the Norwegian Refugee Council

FOREWORD 1 THE RIGHT PERSON IN THE RIGHT PLACE AT THE RIGHT TIME

FH beredskapstyrker

NORCAP’SFH programland INTERVENTIONS: med FH beredskapstyrker PREVENTION/EARLY WARNING Q RESPONSE Q MONITORING Q CONSTRUCTION Q CONFLICT RESOLUTION Q SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT AND DEMOCRATIC GOVERNANCE Q 2 NORCAP AT A GLANCE

Norwegian Capacity (NORCAP) is an important instrument for civilian capacity building and United Nations support. The standby roster is funded by the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and operated by the Norwegian Refugee Council.

NORCAP’S MANDATE IS TO: • Enhance the capacity of the international community to prevent and respond to humanitarian challenges • Support efforts to ensure that international operations assist those in need regardless of their religion, race, nationality and political persuasion • Support international organisations, and in particular NORCAP STATISTICS 2013 the United Nations, in all stages of a crisis, from prevention/early warning and response to monitoring, reconstruction, conflict resolution, sustainable 357 Assignments development and democratic governance 164 Person-years of Work • Ensure that people in emergencies receive protection and assistance according to their needs and rights, 100 Women and 185 Men with particular emphasis on the protection of civil- 23 Organisations ians and the implementation of relevant UN Security Council resolutions 53 Countries of Deployment

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This annual report outlines NORCAP’s activities and key achievements in 2013. It describes the variety and volume of NORCAP’s work and shows how the roster of 680 experts contributed to strengthening United Nations (UN) agencies and other international operations during the past year.

Norwegian Capacity (NORCAP) is a standby roster STRUCTURE operated by the Expert Deployment Department of the This report begins with a presentation of NORCAP’s Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC) and financed by the objectives and priorities in 2013. Chapter 3 provides an Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs (NMFA). As stipu- overview of NORCAP’s cooperation with partner organisa- lated in NORCAP’s framework agreement with the NMFA tions, as well as the roster’s contributions by operational for 2012-14, the roster’s overall goal is to reinforce the and geographic area during the past year. In Chapter 4, international capacity to respond to crises through rapid more thorough insight is offered into how NORCAP worked deployment of expert personnel to national and regional to achieve its operational objectives, including stories of institutions and international organisations. NORCAP’s deployees’ work in the field. Other standby rosters oper- 680 roster members come from all over the world and are ated by NRC’s Expert Deployment Department are then ready to deploy internationally within 72 hours. The ros- described in Chapter 5, followed by an overview of new ter’s secretariat at NRC headquarters in Oslo is in continu- developments in the management of the NORCAP roster. ous contact with its international partners to identify where and when to deploy its experts most efficiently. METHODOLOGY NORCAP associates itself closely with Norway’s humani- The report builds on qualitative and quantitative informa- tarian policy, as expressed in Parliamentary Report No. 40 tion collected and analysed by the NORCAP secretariat (2008-2009). It also shares the visions presented in Par- throughout the year. This includes assessments of deploy- liamentary Report No. 33 (2011-2012), which describes ees’ mission reports, performance evaluations from the Norway’s policy and strategy for supporting the UN deployees’ host organisations, findings from the NORCAP system, and emphasises the need to strengthen the UN’s secretariat’s meetings with partner organisations and coordinated response to complex humanitarian crisis. As deployees and topical surveys. Information about the evidenced throughout this report, NORCAP engaged in specifics of each expert deployment (country, organisation, a spectrum of activities in 2013, all of which intended to duration, etc.) is logged throughout the year, and utilised in strengthen international and national operations in chal- the statistical overviews presented in the report. Since de- lenging humanitarian contexts. ployments vary in length, the volume of NORCAP’s support is measured in person-months of deployments, defined as uninterrupted field assignments for one person at a single organisation. Most of the photographs appearing throughout the report were taken by NORCAP roster members and secretariat staff in field settings where NORCAP engaged in 2013.

4 1. INTRODUCTION 4

CONTENTS 2. PRIORITIES IN 2013 6 2.1 GOAL AND OBJECTIVES 8 2.2 GEOGRAPHICAL PRIORITIES 10

NORCAP DIRECTOR Benedicte Giæver 3. PARTNERSHIPS AND DEPLOYMENTS 12 [email protected] 3.1 NORCAP PARTNERS 14 NORCAP 3.2 DIVERSE DEPLOYMENTS 18 NRC/Flyktninghjelpen Postboks 6758 3.3 CONTRIBUTIONS BY REGION 19 St. Olavs plass 0130 Oslo 4. FOCUS AREAS 30 Norway www.norcapweb.no 4.1 STRENGTHENING THE INTERNATIONAL CRISIS RESPONSE 32

PROJECT MANAGER 4.2 DEVELOPING NATIONAL CAPACITY 40 Åshild Falch 4.3 BUILDING RESILIENCE TOWARDS NATURAL HAZARDS 42 PHOTOS 4.4 PROMOTING CIVILIAN CAPACITY IN PEACE INITIATIVES 44 Fedaa Al Fakih, Lars Aune, Ahmad Azakir, Abdoulaye Boureima, Laurence 5. OTHER STANDBY ROSTERS 46 Cameron, Messe Dusseldorf, 5.1 PROCAP 48 Åshild Falch, Almma Hassoun, Erlend Hvoslef, 5.2 GENCAP 48 T. Irvin, Cristian Jepsen, Mujtaba Khan, Joe Lowry, 5.3 ACAPS 49 Frode Overland Andersen, 5.4 STANDBY TEAM OF MEDIATION EXPERTS 49 R. Rocamora, Martin Skullerud, George Swinimer, François 6. ROSTER DEVELOPMENT 50 Therrien, Staton Winter, Laurie Wiseberg 6.1 RECRUITMENT 52 6.2 COMPETENCE DEVELOPMENT 53 COVER MONTAGE Syrian refugees in no- 6.3 STAFF CARE 54 man’s-land between Syria and the Kurdish Region 6.4 COMMUNICATION AND REPORTING 55 of Iraq. (Photo: Christian Jepsen/NRC) LIST OF ACRONYMS 57 DESIGN & LAYOUT CREODA AS

PRINT Gamlebyen Grafiske

INTRODUCTION 5 Internally displaced persons in Bangui, Central African Republic, following the intensified conflict in December 2013. (Photo: Laurie Wiseberg/ProCap)

6 2 PRIORITIES IN 2013

This chapter presents NORCAP’s main goal, objectives and priorities in 2013 2. PRIORITIES IN 2013

NORCAP’s aim is to strengthen the international capacity to respond in all stages of a crisis by providing expert personnel to national governments and international organisations.

The demand for NORCAP personnel is increasing, and in cooperation with partner organisations nearly 300 experts were deployed to assist, improve and build capacity around the world in 2013.

While the breadth of NORCAP’s mandate constitutes a challenge in terms of prioritisation of activities, its flexibility is a considerable strength of the roster. Since it was established in 1991, NORCAP has had a particular focus on rapid response to crises, but since 2009 the roster has steadily increased its emphasis on early recovery and prevention as well. NORCAP’s priorities in 2013 were in line with this expanding mandate.

Children affected by conflict in Afghanistan filling their bottles with drinking water. (Photo: Laurie Wiseberg/ProCap)

2.1 GOAL AND OBJECTIVES

With the overall goal of reinforcing the international community’s and national actors’ capacities to respond to natural disasters, conflicts and other complex emergencies, NORCAP’s work in 2013 concentrated on two primary objectives, with six related sub-objectives:

8 Strengthened UN, international community and national stakeholders in all stages of a crisis, from prevention/early warning OBJECTIVE 1: and response to monitoring, reconstruction, conflict resolution, sustainable development and democratic governance.

Sub-objective: A more effective and coordinated re- Sub-objective: Increased UN and national capacity sponse to crises. In response to the broadly acknowledged within disaster risk reduction and management. need for improved international response to emergency situa- Preparedness and resilience can prevent a natural disas- tions, NORCAP supports UN efforts to work more coherently ter from turning into a humanitarian crisis, and reduce and effectively, and has recruited and trained several experts both the number of casualties and relief efforts required. towards this end. In 2013, assignments aimed at reinforcing Building resilience towards natural hazards is a third focus crisis operations – both at headquarters and country levels area, in which NORCAP seeks to improve capacity for – continued to account for the largest number of NORCAP reducing and managing disaster risk among relevant inter- deployments, constituting 298 of 357 missions. During the national and national stakeholders. NORCAP has steadily year, a number of experts were deployed to coordinate and increased its engagement in this area since 2011, and support UN-led clusters in complex humanitarian emergen- with a deployment model for disaster risk reduction and cies around the world, and a study of their achievements indi- management specialists now fully operational, 16 such cates that NORCAP had a positive effect in terms of ensuring assignments were carried out in 2013. comprehensive crisis responses (see section 4.1). Sub-objective: Improved mechanisms for providing Sub-objective: Increased capacity of national gov- civilian capacity in peace initiatives. In line with the ernments to develop effective and enduring policies, widely recognised need for civilian staff in peace operations, systems and processes. In order to bridge the gap bet- deployment and promotion of civilian personnel to internatio- ween crisis response and long-term development, NOR- nal peacekeeping and peacebuilding activities remained a CAP works to develop the capacities of national govern- priority for NORCAP in 2013. Drawing on its long-term expe- ments. In addition to deployments that provided indirect rience with roster management, NORCAP provided advice support to governments through the UN system, seven on civilian-capacity development to partners in the Global NORCAP experts were also deployed directly to national South, such as the African Union (AU) and the African authorities for the first time in 2013 in Lebanon, Pakistan Civilian Response Capacity for Peace Support Operations and South Sudan. Results from this first round of direct- (AFDEM), and also continued to deploy personnel to peace to-government deployments will shape the development of initiatives in Palestine and the Philippines. As detailed in sec- NORCAP’s future engagement with national authorities. tion 4.4, NORCAP experts undertook a total of 36 deployments to further this sub-objective during the past year.

Strengthened relations between the UN and the Norwegian OBJECTIVE 2: government, humanitarian community and society.

Sub-objective: Balanced roster in line with partner Sub-objective: Increased awareness of NORCAP in organisations’ demands. To meet the needs of its partner Norwegian society and government. As an experienced organisations, NORCAP strives to ensure a balanced roster in standby-personnel provider and partner to the UN, NORCAP terms of gender, language, nationality and expertise. The broad can offer unique insight into the functioning of the UN to the professional composition of the roster has become a trade- Norwegian government, humanitarian community and broader mark, and is one of NORCAP’s greatest assets. An important society. NORCAP is also well positioned to show how Norwe- aspect of NORCAP’s work is also to maintain the Norwegian gian contributions improve the effectiveness and efficiency of identity of the roster. Given Norway’s role as a major financial the UN. Through continuous monitoring, reporting and infor- contributor and partner to the UN, NORCAP aims to strengt- mation dissemination, NORCAP works to increase the visibility hen the interest in job opportunities with NORCAP among rele- and awareness of its deployees’ support to the UN and other vant target groups in Norway. As part of this work – and with partner organisations. Through this work, NORCAP seeks a specific objective of increasing the number of Norwegian to keep the Norwegian government well-informed about the roster members – NORCAP engaged in targeted recruitment UN’s activities and to increase the interest in and awareness of and partnerships with selected Norwegian institutions in 2013. NORCAP and the UN among the Norwegian general public.

NORCAP’s achievements with regard to each of the above objectives are described in Chapters 4 and 6, which also include accounts from the field that illustrate the work of some of the experts who were deployed through the roster in 2013.

PRIORITIES IN 2013 9 2.2 GEOGRAPHICAL PRIORITIES

NORCAP’s geographical priorities are primarily decided by large-scale crises such as conflicts and natural disasters affecting large numbers of people.

As one of few standby capacity providers, NORCAP Temporary International Presence in the City of Hebron also prioritises neglected and protracted crises, where (TIPH), as well as to other operations in response to the lack of funding often hampers vital international response needs of Palestinian refugees. activities. While some regions are more disaster-prone than others, it is hard to define in advance which coun- The largest volume of deployments in Asia went to tries will receive the largest volume of NORCAP support Myanmar, Pakistan and the Philippines, respectively, where in a given year. The geographical distribution of deploy- NORCAP prioritised support to operations dealing with ments thus mostly follows the reported needs of the conflict- and natural disaster-related issues. Although they roster’s partner organisations. were still prioritised, there was a decline in deployments to Afghanistan, mainly due to the volatile security situation. In 2013, Sub-Saharan Africa continued to receive the largest amount of NORCAP support. Contributions to In the Americas, NORCAP maintained its support to partner organisations’ responses to humanitarian needs in reconstruction and resilience-building efforts in Haiti, Mali and the Sahel region remained key priorities, although though to a lesser degree than in previous years. Support substantial support was also provided to the Democratic was also given to regional disaster risk reduction activities Republic of Congo, South Sudan and the Horn of Africa. and to the protracted conflict situation in Colombia. The deterioration of the situation in the Central African Republic also led to a mobilisation of support there In 2013, NORCAP also prioritised a series of strategic towards the end of the year. deployments to UN agency headquarters in Geneva, New York, Paris and Rome to strengthen global crisis response In the Middle East and North Africa, the ongoing Syrian activities there. conflict required massive NORCAP support to humanitarian operations in Syria and neighbouring countries. More details about NORCAP’s main contributions in each NORCAP also continued to provide personnel to the region are provided in section 3.3 of this report.

Syrian refugees in Kawergosk camp in the Kurdish Region of Iraq. (Photo: Christian Jepsen/NRC)

10 NORCAP’s Tya Maskun and other IOM staff distributing solar lamps, blankets and jerry cans in Tacloban, Philippines. In response to the massive humanitarian needs following the 8 November typhoon, NORCAP deployed 12 experts to support UN relief operations in the country. (Photo: Joe Lowry/IOM)

11 3

NORCAP member Gunn Mariann Aase is deployed to UNICEF in Jordan, where she is responsible for coordinating protection activities for Syrian children in Zaatari refugee camp and elsewhere in the country. (Photo: Åshild Falch/NORCAP) PARTNERSHIPS AND DEPLOYMENTS

This chapter outlines NORCAP’s contribution to partner organisations, and presents the diversity of deployments – both in terms of types of expertise and geographical distribution. 3. PARTNERSHIPS AND DEPLOYMENTS

The volume and scope of NORCAP’s activities has grown steadily in recent years. In 2013, NORCAP’s contribution to global humanitarian operations included support to numerous partners within a range of operational and geographical areas.

Providing personnel to international operations is quali- In 2013, NORCAP members took part in operations tatively different from contributing money or in-kind relief responding to consequences of conflict in the Demo- supplies. People with suitable skills and experience are hard cratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Mali, Myanmar, Somalia, to find and not always willing to relocate. Still, without the South Sudan and Syria, and engaged in work to prevent right people, it is hard to make efficient use of money and and respond to natural disasters in Ethiopia, Haiti, Kenya, relief supplies to improve the lives of people in disaster and Nepal and the Philippines, amongst others. In all, NORCAP conflict situations. Together with several other humanitarian deployed personnel to 53 countries and worked with 23 actors, NORCAP has developed a strong partnership with partner organisations and monitoring missions in 2013. UN organisations for provision of standby personnel support. The partnership, through which UN organisations request Throughout the year, roster members took on 357 support and NORCAP and other standby partners deploy assignments, corresponding to a record-high of 1970 personnel, has contributed to more efficient and effective person-months (or 164 person-years) of work. Among the crisis response and is also key for developing expertise 285 deployees, 34 per cent were Norwegian and 66 per within areas of strategic importance. cent were of other nationalities, while 35 per cent of the deployees were women and 65 per cent were men.1

3.1 NORCAP PARTNERS

NORCAP has memoranda of understanding with 14 personnel requests NORCAP most frequently rejects due international organisations2 and three national govern- to strategic and/or budgetary considerations. ments, as well as deployment agreements with another six institutions and missions.3 Figure 3.2 shows NORCAP’s support to the UN over the past three years, showing that the volume of deployments in Figure 3.1 shows the volume of support offered to each of 2013 surpassed 2011 and 2012 levels. This was principally NORCAP’s partners, illustrating the fact that the United due to increased involvement in UN relief operations in the Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and the United Nations Middle East and Sub-Saharan Africa. Compared to 2011 High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) received the and 2012, NORCAP’s contributions to UNICEF and most NORCAP support during the past year. UNICEF UNHCR in particular increased, while the level of support to and UNHCR also requested by far the most support, most other UN agencies was the same as in previous years. generally relying more on standby personnel than most of NORCAP’s other partners due to their comprehensive UNICEF continued to request and receive the most mandates and crisis operations. While NORCAP’s NORCAP support in 2013. The increase from previous years support to these two UN agencies is greater than that was mostly due to the upsurge in personnel requests relating provided to other partners, their high demand for standby to the agency’s response to larger crises – such as those personnel also makes them the organisations whose in Mali and Syria – where UNICEF’s wide programmatic

(1) The percentage of women was 39 among the Norwegian deployees and 33 among the non-Norwegian. (2) The AU, UNICEF, UNHCR, FAO, WFP, IOM, UNESCO, UN OCHA, UN-HABITAT, UN WOMEN, UNDP, UNFPA, UNRWA and WHO. An acronym key is included at the end of the report. (3) TIPH, IGAD, IMT, LACS, AFDEM and the SPREP

14 FIGURE 3.1: NORCAP PERSON-MONTHS PER ORGANISATION IN 2013

UNICEF 474 UNHCR 405 TIPH 183 UNFPA 116 WFP 113 FAO 112 IOM 104 UNDP 88 UNESCO 78 UN-HABITAT 70 NAT.GOV. 50 UNRWA 47 OCHA 36 IMT 25 AU 19 UN WOMEN 15 IGAD 12 LACS 11 SPREP 6 AFDEM 3 WHO 2 0 50 100 150 200 250 300 350 400 450 500

portfolio has been a vital part of the humanitarian response. part of UNHCR and IOM’s RRT model for camp NORCAP’s most significant contributions to UNICEF were in coordination and camp management (CCCM). the areas of child protection, education and water and sanitation, respectively. Other important areas for NORCAP’s NORCAP’s contribution to the UN Population Fund partnership with UNICEF were cluster coordination, infor- (UNFPA) also increased in 2013, mainly due to increased mation management and logistics. Two NORCAP members collaboration between Statistics Norway and NORCAP, also continued to support UNICEF as child protection with consequent deployments in support of UNFPA’s and education rapid response team (RRT) members, with census and population estimation development. UNFPA deployments to Bangladesh, Jordan, Mali, the Philippines, is also an important partner for NORCAP on projects Senegal and Syria. addressing gender-based violence (GBV).

NORCAP’s support to UNHCR also increased considerably The partnership between NORCAP and the World Food during 2013, and the agency remains the second-largest Programme (WFP) remained stable, with a similar recipient of NORCAP deployments. Most of the support volume of requests and deployments as in past years. was in the area of protection, with numerous NORCAP The majority of NORCAP’s support went to WFP’s head- experts providing assistance to UNHCR’s programmes quarters in Rome and country programmes in Ethiopia, targeted at refugees and internally displaced persons in Kenya and Sri Lanka, with emphases on emergency logis- DRC, Mali, Myanmar, Somalia, South Sudan and Syria, tics and supply. Protection and information management amongst others. Cluster coordination and camp manage- were also important areas. The relatively modest volume ment remained other important areas of support, along with of NORCAP support to WFP is explained by the low continued work in education and information management. number of large-scale food crisis operations, where To strengthen UNHCR’s global emergency response, standby support normally would play an important role. NORCAP also provided support to UNHCR’s headquarters in Geneva, while four roving deployees provided camp Although NORCAP’s support to the Food and Agricul- management trainings to relevant stakeholders globally, as ture Organisation (FAO) decreased somewhat in 2013,

PARTNERSHIPS AND DEPLOYMENTS 15 FIGURE 3.2: NORCAP CONTRIBUTIONS TO UN AGENCIES, 2011 - 2013

500 2011 2012 450 2013

400

350

300

250

200

150

100

0 UNICEF UNHCR UNFPA WFP FAO IOM UNDP UNESCO UN-HABITAT UNRWA OCHA UN WOMEN OHCHR

the agency remains an important partner for NORCAP’s NORCAP experts deployed to support such projects in food assistance-related deployments. NORCAP also priori- Kenya, Chad and Haiti, amongst others, throughout 2013. tised support to the organisation’s work to build resilience in famine-exposed countries, including through four deploy- NORCAP’s contribution to the UN Educational, Scientific ments related to disaster risk reduction. and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) remained the same as in 2012, with continued emphasis on education but NORCAP has a good partnership with the International also increasing support to the agency’s media and information Organisation for Migration (IOM), and throughout the programmes at headquarters and country levels. past year this was further consolidated within the area of CCCM through a joint project with IOM, UNHCR and the After a small drop in 2012, NORCAP’s support to the European Community Humanitarian Office (ECHO). Nearly UN Human Settlements Programme (UN-HABITAT) 50 per cent of NORCAP’s contribution to IOM went to increased somewhat in 2013. The main focus of NOR- CCCM-related projects, most of which were in support CAP’s work remained shelter and reconstruction, with about of internally displaced persons (IDPs) in the Democratic 20 person-months of work in Pakistan, Lebanon and Iraq. Republic of Congo. Given the unfolding situation in the Middle East, NORCAP NORCAP’s support to the UN Development prioritised maintaining its contribution to the UN Relief Programme (UNDP) has increased steadily over the and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the past three years. The agency is an important partner for Near East (UNRWA), with most support going to its edu- deployments related to disaster risk reduction, with seven cation and emergency response programmes in Jordan.

16 The Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian support on emergency coordination and information technol- Affairs (OCHA) also received similar levels of NORCAP ogy to Lebanon’s Ministry of Social Affairs, on policy devel- personnel support as in previous years. Coordination and opment within protection and disaster risk management to information management remain the largest areas of sup- Pakistan’s Disaster Management Authority for the Federally port to this agency. Administered Tribal Area and on disaster risk management to the South Sudan Relief and Rehabilitation Commission. Deployments to the UN Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women (UN WOMEN) remained INCREASING DEMAND FOR SUPPORT at a low level, with three experts supporting gender pro- There was an increase in demand for NORCAP expertise in grammes in Afghanistan, Jordan and Kenya. 2013 relative to previous years. Throughout the year, NOR- CAP received 698 personnel requests from its partner organi- In addition, NORCAP continued to provide support to the sations, resulting in 357 assignments, including 22 contract Temporary International Presence in the City of Hebron extensions (compared to 622 requests, 348 assignments and (TIPH) in Palestine, and maintained its contribution to 32 extensions in 2012). When requests were unfilled, it was the International Monitoring Team (IMT) in Mindanao in generally because the type of mission was not deemed a prior- the Philippines in 2013. Moreover, the partnerships with ity based on NORCAP’s strategic and budgetary limitations. the AU, the Intergovernmental Authority on Development On other occasions, relevant roster members were unavailable (IGAD) and AFDEM remained steady, while there were no or a request was filled by another standby partner. NORCAP deployments to the Office of the High Commis- sioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) and the United Nations The estimated average length of the deployments was 5.5 Environment Programme (UNEP) in 2013. months. The shortest assignment was two weeks, and the longest was 18 months. Among the deployments, 15 involved In line with an increased focus on national capacity develop- cost-sharing between NORCAP and the UN host agency, ment, NORCAP signed memoranda of understanding laying while four were fully paid by the requesting agency through the groundwork for deployment of experts to the reimbursable loan agreements. This testifies to the great in- governments of Lebanon, Pakistan and South Sudan in 2013. terest in NORCAP expertise, with UN agencies willing to pay the partial or full cost of deployments in times of need. Following from the new partnerships, NORCAP provided

Quality moments with children affected by the Syrian crisis. NORCAP deployee Miriam Azar is working as an emergency communication specialist for UNICEF Lebanon. This is her second mission for NORCAP. (Photo: Ahmad Azakir/UNICEF)

PARTNERSHIPS AND DEPLOYMENTS 17 3.2 DIVERSE DEPLOYMENTS

NORCAP’s 680 experts possess a broad array of qualifica- Deployments aimed at strengthening partner organisations, from protection and community services to education, tions’ work on information and technology, education, logistics, information management, water and sanitation, logistics and supply, peace operations, engineering and nutrition, camp management, shelter and more. As reflected camp management each constituted between five and 10 in Figure 3.3, NORCAP’s contributions in 2013 spanned per cent of NORCAP’s overall work, while smaller-scale many areas, utilising the roster’s full range of expertise. support also was provided in communication, social and civil affairs, health, rule of law and administration. As in 2012 – and in accordance with NORCAP’s annual plan for 2013 – coordination and leadership and protec- In terms of person-months of work, NORCAP’s engage- tion were the two largest categories of support, constitut- ment increased most within the area of coordination and ing 39 per cent of all assignments. It should be noted that leadership, with greater support in cluster coordination ‘coordination and leadership’ is a general category, in which and disaster risk reduction compared to previous years. deployees engage in work within numerous operational areas such as cluster coordination and humanitarian affairs.

FIGURE 3.3: DEPLOYMENTS PER CATEGORY OF EXPERTISE

Administration and Finance 1 Rule of Law and Legal Affairs 4 Health and Nutrition 6 Sosial Affairs and Livelihoods 12 Civil Affairs and Democratisation 14 Communication 15 Coordination and Leadership 76 Camp Management 19

Engineering 19

Peace Operations 29 Protection 62

Logistics and Supply 31 Information Education 32 Management and Technology 37

18 3.3 CONTRIBUTIONS BY REGION

In 2013, NORCAP experts took on assignments in 53 countries around the world. As in previous years, the majority of them were in Sub-Saharan Africa, followed by the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region, Asia and the Americas. NORCAP also deployed personnel to key UN agency headquarters in both Europe and the United States.

Figure 3.4 presents the geographic distribution of the sup- whereas somewhat fewer experts undertook assignments port in both person-months and deployments per region in the Americas. Altogether, the volume of NORCAP’s (and UN agency headquarters). Compared to 2011 and support increased by 186 person-months from 2012, 2012, NORCAP’s support to operations in Sub-Saharan when assignments totalled 1784 person-months. Africa and the MENA region increased the most in 2013,

FIGURE 3.4: PERSON-MONTHS AND DEPLOYMENTS BY REGION

SUB-SAHARAN 836 AFRICA 148 658 MENA 122 245 ASIA 51 133 UN HQS 18 PERSON-MONTHS SECONDMENTS 97 AMERICAS 18

0100 200300 400500 600700 800900 1000

PARTNERSHIPS AND DEPLOYMENTS 19 SUB-SAHARAN AFRICA Partner organisations in Sub-Saharan Africa received the largest volume of NORCAP support in 2013, with a total of 148 deployments and 836 person- months of work. As shown in Figure 3.5, responses to crises created by armed conflicts in Mali, the Democratic Republic of Congo, South Sudan and Somalia accounted for the majority of NORCAP’s deployments to the region.

UNICEF FIGURE 3.5: PERSON-MONTHS PER COUNTRY AND ORGANISATION, SUB-SAHARAN AFRICA

100 UNICEF UNHCR UNHCR UNFPA IOM 80 WFP UNFPA FAO UNDP AU IOM AFDEM 60 UNESCO

IGAD WFP UN WOMEN UN-HABITAT 40 NAT.GOV. FAO OCHA

20 UNDP

AU 0 DRC Niger Mali Chad CAR Kenya Nigeria Ghana Liberia Sudan Guinea Congo Somalia Ethiopia Uganda SenegalRwanda Cameroon Zimbabwe Mauritania Ivory Coast South Sudan Burkina Faso South Africa UNESCO

20 IGAD

UN WOMEN

UN-HABITAT

NAT. GOV 4 MALI AND THE SAHEL REGION malnutrition, coupled with large-scale returns of refugees In response to the prolonged volatile situation caused by and IDPs. In light of the situation, NORCAP rendered sup- the conflict in Northern Mali, NORCAP worked extensively port to FAO through a food security cluster coordinator to strengthen UN agencies’ Mali-related operations in in Mali tasked with collecting information and developing 2013. In line with reported personnel needs from partner a national food security strategy. The deployee received organisations, altogether 22 NORCAP experts worked to excellent feedback from FAO, and exemplifies the value of reinforce programmes for IDPs and refugees displaced by expediently deploying personnel with the right experience; the conflict. Inside Mali, a NORCAP protection expert for at the time, concerns about food security and the upco- instance helped UNHCR establish a field office and a re- ming harvest were mounting, and FAO did not have the gional protection cluster in Mopti – a region hosting nearly internal resources to sufficiently respond to the situation. fifty per cent of the IDPs from Northern Mali. Despite remaining challenges related to monitoring protection concerns In past years, recurrent food crises addressed with only in areas under rebel control, the NORCAP expert’s work temporary solutions have increased the vulnerability of has helped UNHCR to fulfil its IDP protection mandate, also Sahel residents. In order to help bridge the gap between enabling it to play a role in the return process in the region. short-term relief and long-term development, NORCAP will in the coming year prioritise resilience-building deploy- In Mali’s neighbouring countries, NORCAP’s support included ments in the region. deployment of three education in emergencies specialists to Mauritania and Niger (see inset), where they worked to strengt- DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF CONGO (DRC) hen UN-led educational programmes for Malian refugees. The ongoing fighting between rebel groups and government forces in Eastern DRC continued to cause large-scale Although the conflict in Mali has calmed down in recent displacement in 2013, with severe consequences for milli- months, food security re-emerged as a key concern in the ons of people, including rampant shelter and food insecurity greater Sahel region during the second half of 2013. The problems. NORCAP increased its contribution to DRC situation in Northern Mali was particularly severe, with by deploying 13 experts in support of UN programmes in trade disrupted by conflict and a high prevalence of acute protection, prevention of GBV, logistics and CCCM.

INSIGHT FROM NIGER Wanjira Muthoni, 60, deployed to Niger in July 2013, and has since supported UNHCR’s education programme for Malian refugees in camps and rural areas in the coun- Wanjira Muthoni discusses education issues with partners from Plan Niger in try’s North West. Tabareybarey refugee camp. (Photo: Abdoulaye Boureima/UNHCR)

Over half of the 50,000 Malian refugees in Niger are chil- has enabled UNHCR field staff to carry out successful dren of school age, and UNHCR’s education activities are campaigns to increase refugee children’s school attend- of crucial importance in addressing their need for contin- ance, and to convince public authorities to admit refugees ued learning in spite of long-term instability. Drawing on at local secondary schools. Wanjira is also supporting her deep experience working with education and gender UNHCR in the development of a strategy to ensure that mainstreaming, Wanjira worked to strengthen and better locally organised education activities are sustained. adapt education activities to the varying needs of the refugees. Through mapping of critical needs and training, she

(4) Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Chad, the Gambia, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Nigeria and Senegal.

PARTNERSHIPS AND DEPLOYMENTS 21 NORCAP expert Pierre Claver on assignment in DRC, where he is supporting CCCM activities. (Photo: Erlend Hvoslef/NORCAP)

Through NORCAP’s CCCM project (in collaboration This is the first attempt in decades to assemble a demo- with IOM and UNHCR and with funding from ECHO), five graphic account of social and living conditions in Somalia, experts helped develop capacity among CCCM providers paving the way for better plans, policies and programmes in North Kivu, offering training and providing tool kits. to meet the needs of the Somali people. NORCAP also prioritised support to WFP’s logistics programme, with a deployee helping assess how humanita- SOUTH SUDAN rian assistance and goods could be transported most effi- South Sudan continues to suffer from a volatile political ciently to different parts of the country. Continued fighting and security situation, and following the violent conflict in DRC has also led to an influx of Congolese refugees that erupted in December 2013, the needs of large-scale to Uganda, and upon request NORCAP deployed one humanitarian efforts have further increased. The number of logistics and two water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) requests for standby expertise remained high throughout experts to improve assistance to refugees in transit cen- the year, and NORCAP prioritised deployment of a total of tres and refugee settlements along the DRC border. 14 roster members to support a variety of international and national operations in the country. SOMALIA/HORN OF AFRICA Two decades of conflict and periodic drought have forced For instance, an information management officer was de- millions of Somalis from their homes and into sprawling, ployed to strengthen UNICEF’s system for collection and overcrowded camps for displaced people in Somalia and analysis of health-related data. Through development of neighbouring Kenya and Ethiopia. Humanitarian access in standardised data-management tools, the deployee made South-Central Somalia is limited, and threats from the rebel an important contribution to improve the data needed group al-Shabaab and a recent attack on the UN compound for planning and decision-making, which has been much in Mogadishu have further reduced the UN’s mobility. appreciated by UNICEF’s health programme. NORCAP also supported UNESCO’s education programme with Security limitations notwithstanding, there was an increase two experts on teacher education and HIV/AIDS, and for in personnel requests from UN partners’ Somalia-related the first time, a NORCAP expert was deployed to South operations in 2013, and NORCAP continued to prioritise Sudan’s Relief and Rehabilitation Commission to assist in deployment of experts to the region. Altogether 23 experts the government’s development of a national disaster risk were deployed to Somalia and border areas in Ethiopia management policy. and Kenya – as well as to Somalia-oriented offices in Nairobi – where they supported protection, coordination OTHER RESPONSES and education activities (amongst others) of eight different In addition to responding to the situations in the above UN agencies. For instance, a GBV specialist was deployed countries and regions, NORCAP provided considerable to help reinforce a UNICEF programme that assisted 5000 support to Ghana, Liberia and Sudan, where 11 experts survivors of GBV in ten regions across Somalia in 2013. contributed to UN operations in areas such as water and The deployee also contributed to the development of a GBV sanitation, protection, logistics and communication. Three survivor support programme for identification, documenta- experts were also deployed to the Central African Republic tion, tracing and reunification, and her work has received (CAR) to strengthen UNICEF’s communication systems and high praise from both UNICEF and UNFPA. humanitarian coordination for UNFPA. In light of the intensify- ing conflict and acute humanitarian needs there, NORCAP As part of an agreement between NORCAP and Statistics is ready to further strengthen its contribution to CAR in 2014 Norway, two deployees also provided technical assistance upon request from partner organisations. to an ongoing population estimation survey in Somalia.

22 IDP living conditions in Eastern DRC. Throughout 2013, a total of 13 NORCAP deployees supported UN operations related to protection, prevention of GBV, logistics and CCCM in DRC. (Photo: George Swinimer/UNHCR) MIDDLE EAST AND NORTH AFRICA

The majority of NORCAP’s deployments to the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region responded to the consequences of the continuing conflict in Syria, and contributed to the Temporary International Presence in the City of Hebron (TIPH) in Palestine. Over the course of the year, NORCAP deployed a total of 100 experts who undertook 122 assignments totalling 658 person- months in the region.

FIGURE 3.6: PERSON-MONTHS PER COUNTRY AND ORGANISATION, MENA

200 TIPH UNICEF UNHCR UNRWA UNESCO 150 UNFPA FAO OCHA WFP 100 UN-HABITAT NAT.GOV. LACS UNDP IOM 50 UN WOMEN

0 Palestine Jordan Lebanon SyriaYemen Egypt Iraq Libya Morocco Turkey

THE SYRIA REGION lectively performed 400 person-months of work in support With over nine million people in need of urgent humani- of a variety of operations related to the crisis. tarian assistance inside Syria and more than two million Syrians having crossed into neighbouring countries, the The difficult security situation and strict visa regulations humanitarian ramifications of the Syrian conflict require a notwithstanding, four NORCAP experts supported shelter, comprehensive response from the international community. child protection, education and project management activi- Support to humanitarian operations in the Syria region thus ties for UNHCR, UNICEF and UNRWA in Damascus, remained a priority for NORCAP in 2013. NORCAP re- Syria. One expert, for instance, was deployed through the ceived a total of 182 new personnel requests from partner Global Education Cluster’s RRT5 to facilitate coordination organisations in Syria and neighbouring Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, of actors within the education sector in Syria. While serious Lebanon and Turkey, and deployed 78 experts – who col- access problems posed challenges for needs assessments

(5) For more information on NORCAP’s contribution to rapid response teams, see section 4.1.

24 and implementation of response programmes, the deployee as two experts to assist in aid coordination at the Local Aid was able to strengthen the response in the education sec- Coordination Secretariat in the West Bank. tor through better coordination with partners including the Syrian Ministry of Education, UN agencies and international Palestinian refugees are also largely affected by the and national non-governmental organisations (NGOs). Syrian crisis. According to UNRWA, over half of the 540,000 Palestinian refugees in Syria have been internally displaced Outside of Syria, NORCAP’s activities in the region due to the conflict, while another 61,000 Palestinian refugees primarily focused on providing support to UN-led refugee that resided in Syria have fled to Jordan and Lebanon. Already operations in Jordan and Lebanon. Several experts worked a vulnerable group before the Syrian conflict, Palestinian to strengthen UN coordination and programme activities refugees and IDPs are particularly exposed, and the rapidly in Jordan’s Zaatari refugee camp. Among them, a WASH growing caseload of Palestinian refugees from Syria expert helped UNHCR improve water installations in the required increased NORCAP support to UNRWA in 2013. camp, while another deployee reinforced UNICEF’s child- protection work in the camp and elsewhere in Jordan. In For instance, through NORCAP deployments, UNRWA Lebanon, NORCAP’s contribution involved support to UN was able to scale up its work on protection for the affected protection and education in emergencies programmes refugee population in Jordan and to strengthen education targeting Syrian refugees, while two deployees also worked for internally displaced Palestinian children inside Syria. to strengthen the Lebanese government’s response to the In this regard, a deployee at UNRWA’s regional office in Syria crisis. In addition, NORCAP contributed to OCHA’s Amman played a crucial role in garnering resources from regional work to raise awareness about the crisis, includ- external donors for education in emergency activities. This ing information management support and development of increased funding has enabled training of local counsellors reports about the Syria situation and response.6 and increased provision of psychosocial support to Palestinian refugee children from Syria. THE PALESTINIAN SITUATION The standstill in the peace process between Israel and OTHER DEPLOYMENTS Palestine continued to result in humanitarian needs in While response to the Syria and Palestinian situations 2013, with severe protection concerns in particular among accounted for most of NORCAP’s support to partner members of the Palestinian population in the West Bank organisations in the MENA region in 2013, NORCAP and Gaza. As further detailed in section 4.4, NORCAP expertise was also used in UN operations in various maintained its support to TIPH in the West Bank through other parts of the region. Five experts, for instance, were deployment of personnel for 15 full-time positions. With assigned to Yemen, contributing to UN programmes on a view to support regional education activities, NORCAP child protection, CCCM and logistics (amongst other), also deployed an expert to UNICEF to coordinate the while two experts supported FAO’s and WFP’s regional education cluster for Palestinian children and youth, as well emergency programmes in Egypt.

Palestinian refugee girls at a school operated by UNRWA in Amman, Jordan. In 2013, six NORCAP experts were deployed to UNRWA, three of them working to strengthen education systems for Palestinians in Jordan and Syria. (Photo: Åshild Falch/NORCAP)

(6) For more information on NORCAP’s Syria response, see section 4.1.1.

PARTNERSHIPS AND DEPLOYMENTS 25 ASIA

Throughout 2013, NORCAP experts undertook 51 assignments totalling 245 person-months in Asia. The most deployments went to Myanmar, Pakistan and the Philippines, respectively, where roster members helped partner organisations assist populations affected by conflict and natural disasters.

FIGURE 3.7: PERSON-MONTHS PER COUNTRY AND ORGANISATION, ASIA

100 UNICEF UNICEF UNHCR IMT UNHCR 80 UN-HABITAT WFP UNESCO IMT 60 NAT.GOV. UNDP UN-HABITAT SPREP UNFPA 40 UN WOMEN WFP WHO

UNESCO 20

NAT.GOV. 0 Myanmar Pakistan PhilippinesAfghanistan Nepal Sri LankaAzerbaijan Samoa KazakhstanThailand UNDP

personnel requests from partner organisations in Myanmar, SPREP MYANMAR resulting in 13 deployments during the course of the year. Progress in the democratisation process notwithstanding, inter-communal fighting in Rakhine and Kachin states, along NORCAP experts worked actively to strengthen UNHCR’s UNFPA with unusually heavy monsoon rainfalls, have posed severe programmes in support of Burmese IDPs. Three experts were humanitarian challenges in Myanmar. Some 240,000 people deployed to coordinate the CCCM clusters in Rakhine and in Rakhine and Kachin are displaced due to the fighting and Kachin states, contributing to a more comprehensive and are in need of basic services such as shelter, water, sanita- organised response to the multiple needs of ten thousands UN WOMEN tion and food. Harsh weather, meanwhile, led to severe of people who were forced to flee. Upon request, NORCAP flooding, not only destroying homes but also livelihood and also deployed five experts to reinforce UNICEF and water supplies in south-eastern areas of the country. As the UN-HABITAT programmes on protection, shelter, emergency international response expanded in line with the escalation of education and WASH. NORCAP also extended its support WHO humanitarian needs, NORCAP decided to prioritise relevant to UNESCO, where a media development specialist has

26 been working since 2012 UN Feedback humanitarian needs fol- to provide advice to the lowing the 8 November government on how to Through their technical expertise and credible typhoon, the NORCAP sec- establish a regulatory and “coodination skills, NORCAP experts have retariat initiated emergency legal framework for media made an important contribution to UNHCR procedures to ensure in line with international in Myanmar. The deployees have helped us that the large number of standards, a crucial aspect establish information management systems personnel requests from of the country’s democrati- and ensured good coordination of the camp UN agencies would be sation process. coordination and camp management cluster processed in a timely and in Rakhine and Kachin. NORCAP’s rapid efficient manner. Eighty PAKISTAN typhoon-related personnel deployment of high-quality experts has really In Pakistan, incessant con- requests from various UN flict, seasonal flooding and made a difference for our operation. agencies resulted in 12 two massive earthquakes ” NORCAP deployments had severe consequences AYAKI ITO aimed at strengthening lo- in 2013, leaving almost a UNHCR Representative, Myanmar gistics, information manage- million people displaced ment, protection, education, across the country. In health, shelter and CCCM response to expressed needs for NORCAP expertise, six operations. While most of the deployments were three roster members were deployed to UN operations where months long, upon request NORCAP is ready to sustain they contributed to projects in areas such as WASH, nutri- its contributions to recovery and reconstruction work in the tion, protection, shelter and CCCM. A shelter expert, for coming year. instance, managed a UN-HABITAT project restoring houses destroyed during the 2012 floods, while two water and As part of a special agreement with the NMFA, NORCAP also sanitation specialists worked to strengthen UNICEF’s re- continued to support the international team that monitors sponse to the needs of people affected by the earthquake the ceasefire agreement between the Philippine govern- in Baluchistan and Punjab. Two experts were also deployed ment and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) in to support the government’s Disaster Management Author- Mindanao with two civilian observers in 2013. ity for the Federally Administered Tribal Area, where they helped develop new protection and disaster risk manage- OTHER DEPLOYMENTS ment policies. In addition to the above responses, NORCAP continued its support to Afghanistan in 2013, with deployment of four THE PHILIPPINES experts tasked with strengthening UN operations in GBV, Large-scale natural disasters, such as the earthquakes in telecommunication and housing, land and property. NOR- Bohol and Typhoon Haiyan, caused widespread loss of life, CAP also deployed three disaster risk reduction experts to displacement, and destruction of property and infrastruc- Nepal, Thailand and Kazakhstan, a logistics officer to Sri ture in the Philippines in 2013. Due to the massive Lanka and a protection officer to Azerbaijan.

Participants in a community development project organised by UN-HABITAT in Kabul, Afghanistan. NORCAP supported UN-HABITAT with a specialist on housing, land and property in 2013. (Photo: Laurence Cameron)

PARTNERSHIPS AND DEPLOYMENTS 27 AMERICAS

NORCAP experts undertook 18 assignments totalling 97 person-months in the Americas in 2013. The vast majority of the deployments were concentrated on reconstruction and resilience-building efforts carried out by UN agencies and the government in Haiti, with smaller-scale contributions to UN operations in Chile, Colombia and Ecuador.

HAITI With the objective of strengthening recovery and resilience- Important progress has been made in Haiti in recent building activities, NORCAP experts also supported UN years, but the country still remains one of the world’s programmes targeting sustainable settlement of IDPs and most exposed to risk from natural disasters and climate reconstruction of damaged schools. In addition, support change. NORCAP has provided comprehensive support to was provided to a UNEP/UNDP project to develop a re- partner organisations’ relief and reconstruction work since newable energy programme in cooperation with the Haitian the earthquake on 12 January 2010. While reduced from government and the NMFA. previous years, this support was sustained in 2013, with 14 deployments totalling 82 person-months to FAO, IOM, LATIN AMERICA UNDP, UN-HABITAT, UNICEF and the Haitian government. Ongoing peace talks between the Colombian government To improve the response to remaining humanitarian needs and the Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia and resilience building, NORCAP’s contribution was centred (FARC) notwithstanding, limited access and forced dis- around national capacity development, with a particular focus placement remain serious humanitarian concerns in Colom- on sustainable livelihood, reconstruction and energy projects. bia. This has widespread and severe ramifications affecting food security, and following a request from FAO, NORCAP Through mobilisation and training of Haitian counterparts, decided to prolong its support of the WFP/FAO-led food- NORCAP experts worked to ensure local ownership of a security and nutrition cluster in Colombia. FAO feedback variety of UN-initiated projects. NORCAP has for instance indicates that the NORCAP-deployed cluster coordinator had continuous deployments to FAO’s agricultural pro- helped strengthen the humanitarian community’s response gramme since 2010 to ensure sustainable access to food to the needs of the most vulnerable people in the country. and water for the country’s most vulnerable populations. In 2013, two experts helped incorporate climate adaptation as- As further detailed in section 4.3, NORCAP also supported pects into this programme. Their work also raised awareness UNESCO with a regional specialist on disaster risk reduction of the need for disaster risk reduction efforts among local education based in Chile, and supplied WFP with expertise on authorities and community-based organisations in rural areas. emergency damage and needs assessment in Ecuador.

A boy sets aside pieces of wood from his dismantled tent to be reused or sold as he prepares to leave Jean-Marie Vincent camp, Haiti. (Photo: IOM)

28 UN HEADQUARTERS

To strengthen the UN’s global crisis response, NORCAP prioritised support to a select number of positions at UN agency headquarters in Geneva, Rome, Paris and New York in 2013. During the year, NORCAP experts undertook 15 headquarters assignments for eight UN agencies, where they contributed to global policy and programme development and provided technical field support in areas of strategic importance.

REINFORCING GLOBAL INITIATIVES Through special reimbursable loan agreements, whereby As in 2012, several of NORCAP’s headquarters-level the hosting agency covers the full cost of the deployment, deployments involved contributing to UN agencies’ global NORCAP provided additional field-related support to policies and programmes. NORCAP experts’ extensive field UNHCR headquarters with four information management experience and strong academic backgrounds make their experts, as well as to the International Network on input highly valued. In 2013, NORCAP’s headquarters con- Education in Emergencies with one deployment to tributions involved development of strategies, policies and UNESCO’s office in Paris. evaluation tools, as well as direct programme support.

Two NORCAP experts, for instance, worked on disaster resilience initiatives at OCHA’s and UNDP’s headquarters in New York. Tasked with leading OCHA’s Resilience Task Force, one of the experts worked on the development of a more coherent inter-agency approach to humanitarian resilience, and also provided direct input to OCHA’s Strategic Framework for 2014-17. Another NORCAP expert, based at FAO’s headquarters in Rome, was deployed to support a global initiative – Save Food – aimed at reducing food loss and waste. NORCAP’s communication expert contributed to awareness of the initiative, which doubled its number of partners over the course of his mission. TECHNICAL FIELD SUPPORT Providing technical support to field operations is a key component of NORCAP’s work at UN agency headquarters. From the NORCAP secretariat’s perspective, deployments to field-support programmes are a cost-effective and efficient way to ensure that qualified personnel is available on short notice for large-scale and rapid-onset crises. For this purpose, NORCAP deployed six roster members to form part of roving RRTs in the areas of education, child protection and CCCM. Throughout the year, the RRT members provided essential support to crisis operations worldwide. Two technical advisers were also deployed to WFP and FAO headquarters, where they provided guidance on fundraising and contingency planning to various field operations.

NORCAP expert Ib Knutsen during a presentation at a FAO-organised Save Food partnership event in Rome in December 2013. (Photo: Messe Dusseldorf)

PARTNERSHIPS AND DEPLOYMENTS 29 NORCAP roster member Miriam Azar deployed to UNICEF Lebanon, in an informal settlement for Syrian refugees in Lebanon during a distribution of winter boots for children. Since February 2013, Miriam has been working to raise awareness of the humanitarian impact of the Syrian crisis on the most vulnerable children in Lebanon. (Photo: Ahmad Azakir/UNICEF) 4 FOCUS AREAS

This chapter details NORCAP’s operational focus areas in 2013.

4 4. FOCUS AREAS

NORCAP’s operational work focused upon four areas in 2013: crisis response, national capacity development, disaster risk reduction and civilian capacity in peace initiatives. This chapter provides an overview of activities in each of these prioritised areas and gives accounts of how deployees contributed to NORCAP’s principle objectives.

STRENGTHENING INTERNATIONAL CRISIS 4.1 RESPONSE To contribute to a more effective and coordinated international crisis response, one of NORCAP’s main priorities is to support the UN’s response to natural disasters and conflicts, as well as to neglected crises. As in previous years, crisis response constituted the bulk of NORCAP’s deployments in 2013.

In a time of crisis, the availability of personnel who can The deployees played different and complementary roles in address humanitarian needs while ensuring dignity and the emergency operations, promoting protection, food provi- durable solutions is vital. Due to the varying scope and sion, livelihood activities and access to health services and nature of such situations, however, the UN is unable to education. They also facilitated cluster coordination, logistics maintain a sufficient number of staff to respond to sudden and information management. According to feedback from and protracted crises. The overall goal behind NORCAP’s host organisations in numerous countries visited by the NOR- partnership with UN organisations is to improve this situ- CAP secretariat during the year,7 NORCAP’s experts made ation: NORCAP develops and deploys expertise that the a positive impact, in terms of both transferring important skills UN lacks, and that can be deployed on short notice and and boosting the capacity of UN activities and programmes. for long enough to provide continuity in crucial phases of a crisis response. SPECIAL FOCUS ON EMERGENCY COORDINATION In response to the widely recognised need for improved A BROAD RESPONSE coordination in emergency situations, providing support to NORCAP deployed roster members with a wide variety of crisis-response coordination – through the cluster system8 profiles to numerous international crisis operations in 2013. and other coordination mechanisms – remained a NORCAP As described in section 4.1.1, a large share of NORCAP’s priority in 2013. Throughout the year, NORCAP participated crisis deployments went to Syria-related operations. in 76 missions involving coordination and leadership work, Deployees also contributed to operations in various other including 17 assignments to coordinate UN-led clusters in protracted crises, such as in Colombia, DRC, Haiti, Pakistan, nine different countries. To assess results and lessons learned Somalia and South Sudan, and since November, NORCAP from this work, NORCAP conducted a study of its engage- engaged broadly in the UN’s response to the sudden-onset ment in cluster coordination in 2013, the results of which are crisis following Typhoon Haiyan in the Philippines. summarised in section 4.1.2.

(7) NORCAP secretariat staff visited deployees and partner organisations in Afghanistan, Jordan, Mali, Nigeria, Palestine, South Sudan and UN headquarters in New York and Geneva in 2013. (8) OCHA defines ‘clusters’ as ‘groups of humanitarian organisations (UN and non-UN) working in the main sectors of humanitarian action, e.g. shelter and health.’ Clusters may be activated when there are clear humanitarian needs within a sector, when there are numerous actors within sectors and when national authorities need coordination support. (Source: http://www.unocha.org/.)

32 In addition, NORCAP supported UN partners and clusters’ To ensure a more effective and timely response, deployment RRTs with six experts on education, child protection and strategies were for instance developed for each operational CCCM. RRT members are engaged on a full-time basis for area of response, including education, health, protection, logis- one year, with 60 per cent of their time spent on crisis opera- tics and shelter. The strategies guided NORCAP’s operational tions in the field and 40 per cent spent supporting a cluster prioritisation and budget management, and will continue to from a UN agency’s or NORCAP’s headquarters. In 2013, do so in the coming year. Administrative procedures related NORCAP’s RRT members provided essential support to crisis to the deployment process were also streamlined, in order to operations worldwide, including in DRC, Indonesia, Pakistan, improve the timeliness of the initial response to UN partner the Philippines and the Syria region. NORCAP considers the organisations’ requests for support. RRTs to be a successful method to respond effectively to crises and will continue its contributions to the development of Due to their mandates, size, global reach and programmatic such teams in 2014. activities, UNICEF and UNHCR receive more crisis-response support from NORCAP than any other UN agencies, com- OPERATIONAL DEVELOPMENTS prising about 45 per cent of NORCAP’s total deployments NORCAP works constantly to maintain its role as a key pro- in 2013. To ensure that NORCAP remains a reliable and vider of high-quality surge capacity. In this regard – and also in predictable roster partner during crisis operations, the NOR- line with recommendations from the 2012 Standby Partner- CAP secretariat was in continuous dialogue with these two ship Review 9 – the NORCAP secretariat undertook several organisations throughout the year to discuss and clarify priori- initiatives to become a more effective, reliable and predictable ties from all sides. In this spirit, an individual response plan standby partner in 2013. outlining the scope, nature and timing of NORCAP’s support was developed with UNICEF and a similar plan is currently under discussion with UNHCR.

Damage in Tanauan, Leyte. Typhoon Haiyan ripped through the Philippines on 8 November 2013, killing thousands and displacing some 3 million people. (Photo: R. Rocamora/UNHCR)

(9) The review is available at: http://norcapweb.no/arch/_img/9153563.pdf

FOCUS AREAS 33 4.1.1 REINFORCING THE SYRIAN CRISIS RESPONSE

NORCAP has provided wide-ranging support to humanitarian operations in the Syria region since the outbreak of the conflict in 2011. With nearly 80 experts on the ground in Syria, Jordan, Lebanon, Iraq, Turkey and Egypt, strengthening the Syria crisis response remained a top NORCAP priority in 2013.

The increasing number of Syrian IDPs and refugees has emergencies, communication, sanitation, logistics, shelter generated greater needs across all sectors, straining coordination and CCCM. the capacities of neighbouring countries, with profound regional consequences. Reflecting the worsening situa- In meetings with the NORCAP secretariat, several UN tion, the demand for NORCAP support to UN operations agencies said that they have relied on standby partner in Syria and its neighbouring countries – particularly Jordan support and internal surge capacity since the start of the and Lebanon – was considerable in 2013. Syrian conflict – recognising that they have been slow at hiring additional personnel as their operations have Throughout the year, NORCAP’s contribution to Syria-re- expanded to address the escalation of the crisis. Some lated operations totalled 400 person-months and included UN agencies have started fast-track recruitment processes support to 12 different UN organisations, the global for regular UN staff to take up more long-term positions CCCM cluster, as well as the Lebanese Ministry of Social in support of their operations. But in view of the scale and Affairs. Echoing the multiple and diverse needs on the enduring nature of the crisis, UN partners indicate that ground, NORCAP’s expertise spanned a variety of areas, NORCAP support will remain key to their response for including emergency coordination, protection, education in the foreseeable future.

UN Feedback As the Deputy Representative of Besides quick deployment to respond to UNICEF“ Lebanon, I can say sincerely immediate“ needs, NORCAP has brought in that we would not have been able to a wealth of technical expertise and skills and achieve the results for children that we ensured stability through longer deployments. have without the outstanding contribu- Through NORCAP’s support, we have been tions of NORCAP deployees over the year. able to strengthen our efforts in areas span- Whether running a major communications ning from camp management to logistics, programme, managing the scale-up of our protection, community services and shelter, WASH programme in the field, or support- and this has been of great importance for the ing management in critical reporting and sustainability and quality of our operations in documentation functions, NORCAP col- Zaatari. leagues seem to have the gift of instantly ” fitting into the team and making it stronger. KILIAN KLEINSCHMIDT While thankfully we are less dependent on UNHCR Camp Manager, Zaatari- Mafraq, Jordan deployees now than we were at the start NORCAP deployed 11 experts to help reinforce of the Syria crisis, they remain a key part of UNHCR’s Syria response in Jordan in 2013. our operation and it is difficult to imagine the team without their presence.

LUCIANO CALESTINI ” Deputy Representative, UNICEF Lebanon NORCAP had seven deployments in support of UNICEF in Lebanon in 2013, the majority of which were related to the Syrian crisis.

34 “

Here are three examples of how NORCAP deployees factors that have hampered Mohaned and his team’s have been working to strengthen operations related ability to reach out to children in need. to the Syrian crisis:

‘None of the Syrian NGOs were prepared for the huge needs for child protection services generated by the crisis,’ INSIGHT Mohaned explains. ‘The limited child protection capacity and lack of experience in humanitarian programming among Syrian NGOs made it difficult to respond adequately to FROM SYRIA the needs, and this was further complicated by the limited geographic coverage among relevant international NGOs.’ The day Mohaned Kaddam, 38, arrived in Damascus, UNICEF’s child Through transfer of knowledge on humanitarian work in protection section in Syria finally had emergency contexts and international protection standards, Mohaned has worked to boost the child protection capacity sufficient personnel to be operational. among local humanitarian actors. ‘I have spent a lot of time Since then, he has been following explaining the importance of adopting an emergency work mo- up on two of UNICEF’s core commit- dality in humanitarian programming and plans,’ Mohaned says. ments to children during armed con- ‘Earlier, child-oriented NGOs in Syria were mainly running orphanages and supporting juvenile justice centres. But as a flict: providing them with psychosocial result of my team’s work, many of them have now switched support and education regarding the their focus to offering psychosocial support and creating child- risk of landmines and other unexplod- friendly spaces for children affected by the conflict.’ ed devices. Due to the deterioration of the security situation in Syria, Mohaned – along with 80 per cent of UNICEF’s international Yet, Mohaned’s work to ensure respect and protection personnel in Syria – was relocated to Amman in Jordan in of Syrian children’s rights has been severely affected by mid-September. He says it has been difficult to continue his political and security challenges. Limited access to the project-management responsibilities out of country, but that field due to security and government restrictions, as well he supports UNICEF’s child protection section in Syria on as the politicisation of humanitarian assistance – by both strategic and technical issues as much as he can. the government and the opposition – are only some of the

This photo shows one of the most memorable moments from Mohaned Kaddam’s work in Syria. Through support from his team, the Syrian Arabic Red Crescent in Homs was finally able to get access to establish a child-friendly space in Hessya village, where children had witnessed prolonged fighting and been displaced multiple times. (Photo: Almma Hassoun/UNICEF)

FOCUS AREAS 35 Building on her deep experience in humanitarian work for INSIGHT the UN, NGOs and national actors, Cathrine has been supporting the ministry’s coordination of the Syrian crisis since June 2013. Her responsibilities include advising FROM LEBANON ministry staff, representing the ministry in coordination fora and facilitating coordination both internally within the As part of a new collaboration between ministry and vis a vis the international community. NORCAP and the Government of Leba- non, Cathrine Gjertsen Skonhoft, 41, ‘One of the things I have prioritised is to find ways of bringing ministry staff at field, regional and national levels closer, was deployed to the Lebanese Ministry so that response activities may be tailored to the needs on of Social Affairs in June 2013. Cath- the ground,’ she says. Through joint meetings, trainings and rine’s main responsibility is to support field trips with colleagues in the ministry, she has worked to improve coordination, and she has found it rewarding to Lebanon’s system for emergency co- see their dedication and commitment to responding to the ordination – a considerable task given crisis in spite of the difficult circumstances and the minis- the complex and large-scale implica- try’s limited financial means.

tions of the Syrian crisis for neighbour- The existing political vacuum in Lebanon, however – a ing countries. caretaker government is temporarily running the country – constitutes a major challenge for Cathrine and the With an influx of over one million refugees in a small ministry’s work. Decisions that affect their work, such as country of only four million people, the Syrian crisis has whether or not to establish refugee camps for Syrian refu- had serious spillover effects on the Lebanese government, gees, have been put on hold. ‘This not only makes it hard society and economy. For the Ministry of Social Affairs to coordinate our activities, but hampers the international – which is tasked with coordinating the Lebanese govern- community’s response as a whole,’ she says. ment response to the Syria emergency – a key priority is to increase the international attention on the growing number Cathrine is one of two NORCAP deployees who sup- of host communities that are affected by the refugee crisis. ported the Lebanese Syria response in 2013. According ‘Sufficient resources should be channelled to support the to the ministry’s programme manager for the Syria crisis re- host communities, both as a conflict-prevention measure sponse, Makram Maeb, the deployees’ support on regional and to reduce the rising tension between the two commu- response planning and refugee database development has nities,’ Cathrine says. been invaluable.

NORCAP’s Cathrine Skonhoft in discussion with Syrian refugees living in temporary rented accommodation in Aley, Mount Lebanon. (Photo: Fedaa Al Fakih)

36 no knowledge of their family members’ situations. ‘It felt INSIGHT incredibly good to be able to offer the refugees blankets, food parcels and shelter in a safe environment,’ Patric says.

FROM JORDAN At times, he was the only international protection officer in Zaatari at night. Based on his experience, UNHCR Patric Mansour, 42, deployed to Jordan implemented a new night shift management system with in October 2012, and has since sup- more coordinated procedures for receiving new refugees ported UNHCR’s work on registering in the camp. ‘In cooperation with partner agencies, we developed a step-by-step system, whereby we first provide and protecting Syrian refugees, a key information about camp services and offer necessary food priority for his host organisation’s and non-food items to the refugees, before we assess their response to the crisis. medical needs, register them and follow up on protection needs,’ Patric says. ‘The new system has been developed Patric brought wide experience from previous protec- over time, and thanks to great cooperation between the tion work with the UN system in the Middle East, Africa agencies involved, it has improved our provision of protec- and Asia to his new assignment as a protection officer in tion for the refugees.’ Zaatari, a camp that hosts over 120000 Syrian refugees in North-Western Jordan. ‘Being familiar with the system and One challenge in Patric’s work as a protection officer has procedures for supporting refugees enabled me to start been coping with the many gruesome stories he hears from using my skills in the field almost immediately,’ he says. the refugees he meets in the camp. ‘For instance, as a fa- ‘This and NORCAP’s rapid response to UNHCR’s request ther to a child, it has been heart-breaking to see the arrival for a protection officer have been highly appreciated by my of refugee women, who shortly after giving birth to their host organisation.’ new-born children have been forced to leave their homes in Syria,’ Patric says. In order to cope with these experiences, During his first months on mission, Patric mainly worked he has had many reflective conversations with colleagues. night shifts in Zaatari. On cold winter nights, he received Although the work can be tough, Patric says he remains newly arrived refugees, who had fled attacks and atrocities committed to continue protecting Syrian refugees. back home, arriving with no personal belongings and

Patric Mansour on assignment as protection officer for UNHCR in Zaatari refugee camp, Jordan. (Photo: Åshild Falch/NORCAP)

FOCUS AREAS 37 4.1.2 CONTRIBUTION TO CLUSTER COORDINATION

With the aim of reinforcing the UN’s coordinated response to crises, deployment of cluster coordinators remained a priority among NORCAP’s response activities in 2013. Throughout the year, NORCAP deployed 17 experts to coordinate clusters in a variety of areas – from protection and food security to shelter and CCCM – in nine different countries.10

Grounded in Norwegian foreign policy, NORCAP has requirements – in the cluster’s area of operation, the worked to strengthen and support the implementation of NORCAP deployees also contributed to advocacy initia- the UN’s humanitarian policy reform since its inception in tives and the development of proposals for pooled funding, 2005. Improving the functioning of the cluster system is such as consolidated appeals processes and the UN’s an important part of this work. Over the past three years, Central Emergency Response Fund. NORCAP has deployed over 40 experts to lead the coordination of clusters worldwide. WHAT DID THEY ACHIEVE? Most of NORCAP’s cluster coordinators operated in com- To assess NORCAP’s contribution to cluster coordination, plex emergency situations, which were by no means free of the NORCAP secretariat conducted a study of the de- impediments to their work. These challenges notwithstand- ployees’ tasks and achievements. For this purpose, cluster ing, performance evaluations by deployees’ host organisa- coordinators on mission in 2013 were invited to take part tions demonstrate that the deployees helped strengthen in a qualitative survey, which together with an analysis the cluster system. UN host organisations emphasised of performance evaluations from the deployees’ hosting that the deployees were highly dedicated, possessed organisations yielded the following results: extensive technical knowledge and managed to establish good relations and cooperation with relevant stakeholders. HOW DO CLUSTER COORDINATORS WORK? In addition to completing their assigned tasks – and thus Although NORCAP’s cluster coordinators worked in a contributing to a well-functioning cluster mechanism – the wide range of emergency contexts, they engaged in similar results from NORCAP’s study indicate that the deployees activities to ensure a comprehensive and coordinated also had a positive impact by contributing to: crisis response.

In order to gather stakeholders for targeted discussions, one of their main responsibilities was organising cluster meetings. To ensure that key humanitarian partners were represented in these meetings and other cluster activities, the deployees worked persistently to involve national and local governmental authorities, national and international organisations, affected populations and other clusters. They also spent a considerable amount of time on information management: gathering and analysing data about cluster members’ activities. Along with results from needs assessments, this information helped the cluster coordinators identify gaps and overlaps, which they in turn used to develop strategies and action plans aimed at ensuring a comprehensive response to the needs of the people affected by the crisis at hand.

Based on identified core concerns – including resource Jolanda van Dijk, on mission as cluster coordinator within camp coordination and camp management in Myanmar, during a meeting in Basara IDP camp. (Photo: NORCAP)

(10) Afghanistan, Colombia, Mali, Myanmar, Niger, Palestine, Pakistan, Somalia and Yemen.

38 Protection cluster coordinator Bilal Sougou on a mission to assess protection concerns among communities displaced after a flood in Niamey, Niger. (Photo: François Therrien/UNICEF Niger)

Increased commitment to collaborative efforts: LESSONS LEARNED The NORCAP experts increased relevant stakeholders’ Throughout their missions, NORCAP’s deployees interest and commitment to participating in the cluster’s gained important insights into what works well and not so collaborative activities. Deployees for instance mobilised well when it comes to cluster coordination in emergency important government partners and ensured ownership situations. Building on these insights, the deployees and recognition of common goals on how to move recommended the following best practices for future forward among cluster members. NORCAP deployed cluster coordinators:

Improved information flow enabling identification 3 Networking and mobilisation of partners is essential of needs and overlaps: The data that the deployees to a well-functioning cluster gathered on cluster members’ activities, challenges and 3 Creating ownership among partners enhances results provided important information about efforts within commitment to common goals their cluster’s area of operation. The information created 3 Field visits provide important insight into the cluster’s the basis for assessment and analysis of remaining needs area of operation among the affected population and possible overlapping 3 Having too many cluster meetings may exhaust members activities, which is essential for ensuring a targeted 3 Participation in other clusters’ meetings promotes more cluster response. integrated solutions 3 Successful coordination requires flexibility, pragmatism A more integrated and results-oriented cluster and a service-minded approach response: Thanks in part to the deployees’ coordination 3 Sound technical and contextual knowledge provides work, the number of gaps and overlaps within their sectors a head start were reduced and urgent gaps for the most part were filled. One of the deployees was also able to adapt the Heading into 2014, strengthening the UN’s coordinated cluster from a development-oriented to a more appropriate response to crises will remain a priority in NORCAP’s humanitarian-oriented approach. response activities. NORCAP will prepare future deployees on important aspects of cluster work, including passing on lessons from the above study.

FOCUS AREAS 39 4.2 DEVELOPING NATIONAL CAPACITY

To help bridge the gap between emergency relief and long-term development, resilience building forms an important part of NORCAP’s strategic and operational work. In order to develop critical capacities needed to build system-wide resilience, NORCAP established new partnerships and deployed a number of specialists to support national authorities in 2013.

In line with NORCAP’s annual plan, national capacity de- NEW PARTNERSHIPS AND DEPLOYMENTS velopment remained a cross-cutting priority for NORCAP in A key achievement in this regard was the establishment 2013, and several initiatives and deployments were carried of hosting agreements with the governments of Lebanon, out to this end. About a third of all NORCAP deployees Pakistan and South Sudan, which opened the door for spent the majority of their time providing support to national direct NORCAP deployments to their respective minis- authorities in an indirect manner, such as supporting their tries and government agencies. In 2013, seven experts host organisations’ delivery of services to government deployed to these three countries and assisted national institutions. NORCAP also increasingly aided in national authorities in their efforts at building system-wide resilience capacity development through the direct deployment of through development of more effective and enduring expertise to national governments. policies, systems and processes.

In Lebanon, for instance, an agreement between NORCAP and the ministry tasked with the coordination of the Lebanese WHAT IS RESILIENCE BUILDING? government response to the Syria refugee emergency allowed for deployment of two NORCAP experts in 2013. Through their expertise on database development and humanitarian Based on the UNDP’s conceptualisation, coordination, respectively, the deployees have improved the NORCAP defines resilience building as the ministry’s mechanisms for recording and monitoring the flow process of strengthening people’s, commu- of refugees from Syria, and strengthened the ministry’s role in nities’ and countries’ capacity to anticipate, various coordination fora (see section 4.1.1). prevent, manage and recover from crises such as natural disasters and conflicts. By addressing the vulnerabilities that put people at greatest risk in these circumstances, resilience-building activities can bridge the gap between emergency response and long-term development.

NORCAP’s work on resilience building consists of targeted expert deployments in support of national and international institutions and organisations, in particular those whose work involves planning for and dealing with the effects of natural disasters and conflicts. Internally, this work has been divided into three crosscutting and mutually supporting programming areas: national capacity development; disaster risk reduction and management; and civilian capacity in peace initiatives, as portrayed in the following three sections (4.2 – 4.4). Improvised tented settlement for Syrian refugees in Lebanon’s Bekaa valley. NORCAP deployed two experts to support the Lebanese government response to the Syrian crisis in 2013. (Photo: Christian Jepsen/NRC)

40 Through a similar arrangement with the Federally Adminis- EVALUATION AND FURTHER FOCUS tered Tribal Area Disaster Management Authority (FDMA) in Feedback from hosting institutions indicates that the Pakistan, NORCAP deployed an expert to help develop an above NORCAP experts are providing essential support IDP protection policy – which will be essential in order for to authorities in Lebanon, Pakistan and South Sudan. As FDMA to fulfil the protection elements of its core mandate. the deployments are still ongoing it is too early to draw In preparations for the policy development, the deployee conclusions about their longer-term impact. But NORCAP organised an extensive round of stakeholder consultations, is monitoring them closely, and is in the process of drawing and the policy is now being finalised by FDMA, for planned lessons from the assignments to evaluate how resilience- adoption in 2014 (see below). building at the national level can be further strengthened. These lessons will be incorporated into a broader monitor- Finally, NORCAP also established a close relationship with ing and evaluation exercise. the Relief and Rehabilitation Commission in South Sudan, with a subsequent deployment that is explained more in In 2014, NORCAP will also continue its discussions with detail in section 4.3. UNDP about a possible collaboration on deployments in support of their extensive national capacity-development portfolio.

While Sadaqat’s deployment is still on-going, there are INSIGHT already signs that his ideas and contributions are becom- ing part of FDMA’s organisation and activities. During a FROM PAKISTAN recent “return exercise,” FDMA applied the new protection strategy guidelines that Sadaqat helped them develop In April, NORCAP protection expert for the first time, and returnees were offered significantly Sadaqat Roghani, 53, deployed to better levels of protection than before. Pregnant women and elderly people, for instance, were provided with the FDMA in Peshawar, Pakistan. His better transportation arrangements and medical care; task was to help the agency incor- unregistered returnees without the proper identification porate protection into its policies to documents were quickly provided with special passes ensure that people’s rights are re- to facilitate their return; and landmine-risk education was provided to parents and children before they returned to spected at the time of crisis. their place of origin, something that had not previously been considered a priority. FDMA’s mandate is managing the whole disaster spectrum, including preparedness, response, recovery, rehabili- ‘As with any organisational capacity development pro- tation and reconstruction. The agency is currently working gramme, it is essential to have the commitment of the sen- to strengthen its institutional response capacities, and ior leadership of the organisation in place from the start,’ improving the protection of vulnerable communities is an says Sadaqat. ‘Once you have this, then the systems and important part of this work. Sadaqat’s role is to develop policies that are put in place during the deployment will and roll out a new IDP-protection strategy for FDMA. endure and the organisational resilience will be improved.’

NORCAP’s protection expert Sadaqat Roghani (to the left) in a focus group discussion on identification of protection issues with IDP representatives in Jalozai Camp, Pakistan. (Photo: Mujtaba Khan/NRC)

FOCUS AREAS 41 4.3 BUILDING RESILIENCE TOWARDS NATURAL HAZARDS

A third focus area for NORCAP in 2013 was improving disaster risk reduction (DRR), disaster risk management (DRM) and climate change adaptation mechanisms. Throughout the year, NORCAP undertook 16 assignments to develop capacity for reducing and managing disaster risk, and organised several activities to enhance DRR and DRM knowledge among NORCAP’s roster members and partner organisations.

The assignment is not yet completed, but preliminary feed- INCREASING DEMAND FOR DRR EXPERTS back from the ministry indicates that the deployee has played The vulnerability of individuals, societies and nations to the a vital role in establishing collaboration between relevant effects of natural hazards is increasing, and so is the fre- humanitarian and development actors, which has been quency and magnitude of these events due to climate change. essential for the development of a policy framework for Since 2011, NORCAP has steadily increased its work disaster management for South Sudan. related to DRR and climate change adaptation, and incom- ing personnel requests indicate an increased need for this NORCAP also provided indirect government support capacity in UN agencies and national institutions. Throughout through deployments to UN agencies. In Nepal, for 2013, NORCAP took on DRR assignments for UN agencies instance, a deployee assisted UNICEF in training govern- and national authorities in 14 disaster-prone countries, some ment stakeholders on how to incorporate DRR and climate of which involved providing broader regional support. While change adaptation priorities in their plans. This work the missions varied in content and scope – ranging from ultimately led to integration of these issues in all sector incorporating DRR and climate change adaptation into UN and zonal plans – an important step in Nepal’s process to programmes to supporting governments in developing DRM enhance its resilience to disaster risk. policies – they all sought to reduce disaster risk and improve inter-agency coordination in this area. Natural hazards and disasters cross national borders, and in order to enable adequate preparedness and response, NATIONAL AND REGIONAL RESILIENCE SUPPORT NORCAP also prioritised support to regional resilience and Several of NORCAP’s resilience assignments involved DRR initiatives in 2013. In West Africa, for instance, a de- technical support to national authorities in countries vulner- ployee based in FAO’s Senegal office made a substantial able to natural disasters. A senior expert from Bangladesh, contribution to the regional DRR coordination mechanism for instance, was deployed to assist the government of South and helped revitalise the joint FAO-WFP road map initiative Sudan to develop a disaster management policy, which will on DRR in West Africa and the Sahel region. In addition, include systems for managing and recovering from natural two NORCAP experts deployed to UNDP and UNICEF disasters. Given the world’s newest country’s vulnerability to provided technical support to regional DRR and resilience natural disasters and lack of strategic policies and plans to initiatives that are now under way in Central Asia and the deal with them, this deployment was considered essential. Middle East and North Africa.

Three boys from the Aweil area in South Sudan rescue their belongings from rising floodwater. (Photo: Staton Winter/UNMISS Photo)

42 KNOWLEDGE SHARING (Giovana Santillan, whose mission is described below, was With the objective of building resilience-planning and DRR one of the participants.) The initiative was deeply appreciated capacity among NORCAP’s roster members and partner by its participants, and following from their recommenda- organisations, the NORCAP secretariat organised sev- tions, NORCAP has developed an online knowledge-sharing eral knowledge-sharing activities in 2013. In November, a system for roster members working in DRR. The NORCAP three-day seminar gave 14 roster members who had been induction course was also adapted to ensure that all roster on DRR-related assignments in 2012-13 the opportunity to members have some basic knowledge of DRR issues that present their work and discuss successes and challenges. typically are important for NORCAP missions.

cal level – and upon request from the Chilean National Bureau of Emergency – her project contributed to de- INSIGHT velopment of regional tsunami alert procedures in close cooperation with regional and national authorities. Her FROM CHILE team also played an important role in the establishment of national coordination committees, aimed at strengthen- NORCAP member Giovana Santillan, ing cooperation between regional research institutes, risk 35, deployed to Chile to support management agencies and ministries of education. UNESCO’s regional programme on Developing relevant educational materials was also an education and disaster risk reduction important part of Giovana’s work, and together with her in late 2011. During her 18-month mis- team, she wrote manuals on tsunami preparedness, which subsequently were incorporated into national school cur- sion, she engaged in many activities to ricula in all four countries. enhance knowledge of tsunami preparedness among everyone from school- ‘It was really rewarding when the Chilean Ministry of Edu- children to national policymakers. cation decided to adopt our guide, “Tsunami Risk Educa- tion at Schools,” into its official education package,’ she says. ‘And I was so happy when I learned that the ministry As part of a new UNESCO project, Giovana was tasked with even won the South American Contest for Best Practice strengthening tsunami early warning and preparedness sys- in Disaster Preparedness11 largely because of it.’ tems in Chile, Ecuador, Colombia and Peru – four countries regularly affected by natural hazards – including earthquakes, storms, tsunamis, hurricanes and volcanic eruptions.

‘This was the first time the UNESCO Santiago office engaged in a disaster risk-reduction project, so we basi- cally had to start from scratch, by establishing relevant contacts and getting key actors involved in DRR in education on board,’ Giovana explains. ‘Even though the largest earthquake ever recorded – with a consequent tsunami – hit Chile in 1960, it was hard to convince some stakeholders about the need for education on tsunami preparedness. But another earthquake in 2010 and the tsunami that hit Chile after the 2011 earthquake in Japan served as eye-openers for those who initially had been sceptical about the project.’

Despite the somewhat slow start, Giovana’s project NORCAP expert Giovana Santillan (middle) at a teacher workshop on disaster risk reduction accomplished a lot during her assignment. At the politi- at a school in Esmeraldas, Ecuador. (Photo: UNESCO)

(11) The contest was organised by the UN International Strategy for Disaster Reduction and the European Commission’s Directorate-General for Humanitarian Aid and Civil Protection.

FOCUS AREAS 43 4.4 PROMOTING CIVILIAN CAPACITY IN PEACE INITIATIVES

NORCAP continued enhancing the civilian component of peace operations and initiatives in 2013. This involved promoting the use of civilian staff in UN and AU peacekeeping and peacebuilding activities as well as deploying civilian staff to international peace support and monitoring operations in various countries.

STRENGTHENING MECHANISMS FOR CIVILIAN DEPLOYMENT OF CIVILIAN STAFF TO PEACE CAPACITY OPERATIONS Countries emerging from conflict often face a critical short- In 2013, the Norwegian Standby Roster for Civilian Observ- age of the civilian personnel needed to build resilience ers (NOROBS), a NORCAP sub-roster, continued to provide and establish conditions for sustainable peace. In order to civilian personnel to peace operations. A total of 15 civilian help fill this expertise gap, NORCAP works to strengthen observers were deployed to TIPH in Palestine. Two civilian mechanisms for providing civilian capacity in peace initia- observers were also deployed as the Norwegian contribution tives on both direct and indirect levels. to IMT in Mindanao, Philippines. IMT’s mandate is to monitor the ceasefire agreement between the government and the Based on its long-term experience with deployment of civil- Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF). ian staff to the UN, the NORCAP secretariat continued its support to the CIVCAP process,12 a UN-initiated process The peace process between the government and MILF is to strengthen the civilian component of peacebuilding still regarded as moving in the right direction, and IMT is activities. In the spirit of this initiative, NORCAP provided viewed by stakeholders as contributing to adherence to advice on establishing civilian standby rosters – such as the ceasefire agreement. In April, the Norwegian Broad- AFDEM – to institutions and states in the Global South, casting Corporation aired a documentary about TIPH, and shared lessons learned in civilian capacity develop- which described the various dilemmas of the mission and ment with partners in the MENA and Balkans regions. the continued support from the Norwegian government. Since 2012, NORCAP has also been included in the on- During the past few years, relations between the parties in line portal CAPMATCH, a CIVCAP initiative to link request- conflict have deteriorated in many parts of the West Bank. ing institutions with providers of civilian personnel. However, according to NORCAP observers, the presence of TIPH has helped slow down this negative trend in the observer mission’s area of operations. Both TIPH and IMT are civilian observer missions commissioned by the NMFA. In order to identify possible future directions for the NOROBS sub-roster, NORCAP is preparing for an external review of its activities in 2014.

In addition, NORCAP agreed on a two-year programme of deployments for 2013-2015 with the Peace Support Operations Division of the African Union Commission. The objective of the programme is to strengthen the ability of the AU to enhance the civilian dimension of its peace support operations. During the year, NORCAP deployed three experts to support various civilian operations in Ethiopia, Nigeria and Somalia, while another five are under recruitment for deployment to Ethiopia and Somalia in 2014.

TIPH observers in conversations with citizens of Hebron, Palestine. (Photo: NOROBS)

(12) For information about the CIVCAP process, please see: https://www.civcap.info/about-civcap.html.

44 INSIGHT FROM PALESTINE Mirza Ajdinovic, 34, is deployed as an the NMFA, NORCAP recruits and deploys 15 Norwegian members to TIPH every year. In 2013, the Norwegian per- Arabic-speaking observer to the Tem- sonnel worked on observation, research, gender issues and porary International Presence in the management, amongst other areas. City of Hebron (TIPH). Together with TIPH observers conduct daily patrols in the City of Hebron, the other mission members, he moni- particularly in the tense areas close to the Israeli settle- tors the obligations mandated in the ments. ‘Although our mandate is only to observe and not Hebron agreements between the Is- intervene in incidents or disputes, tensions often calm down and problems even get solved when TIPH observers raeli and Palestinian authorities, and are present in the field,’ Mirza says. He works in TIPH’s reports on breaches of international research, analysis and information division. His main tasks humanitarian law and human rights in are to assess the accounts of daily incidents and com- pile them into monthly and periodic reports. Mirza is also the city of Hebron. responsible for introducing international visitors to the situation in Hebron through briefings and tours. He explains that TIPH is a civilian observer mission established in 1994 TIPH also supports a wide range of community projects that consists of six member states: Denmark, Italy, Norway, intended to promote stability, economic development and Sweden, Switzerland and Turkey. The mission monitors and the wellbeing of the Palestinian population in areas most submits confidential reports about the situation in Hebron to affected by the conflict. both the Palestinian and Israeli authorities, as well as to the six member countries. As part of a special agreement with

Norwegian Minister of Foreign Affairs Espen Barth Eide in Hebron in August 2013. NOROBS deployee Mirza Ajdinovic (to the right) was responsible for guiding Eide’s tour of downtown Hebron. (Photo: Frode Overland Andersen/NMFA)

FOCUS AREAS 45 5

IDPs in Karahkalah settlement in Afghanistan. In 2013, four NORCAP deployees supported UN operations in Afghanistan, and a senior protection adviser from ProCap also worked to strengthen UNHCR’s IDP policy work in the country. (Photo: Laurie Wiseberg/ProCap) OTHER STANDBY ROSTERS

This chapter presents four specialised NRC Expert Deployment projects that supplement NORCAP’s activities. 5. OTHER STANDBY ROSTERS

In collaboration with the UN, the Expert Deployment Department of the NRC man- ages four additional rosters. These rosters provide high-level and interagency support to the UN and other actors through specialised expertise in protection, gender mainstreaming, needs assessment and mediation. 5.1 PROCAP The Protection Standby Capacity Project (ProCap) was launched in 2005 to meet a widely recognised need for experienced senior staff to improve humanitarian protection responses. OCHA provides all of ProCap’s secretariat functions, while the NRC is responsible for roster recruitment, employment and deployment, as well as the administration of five annual ProCap trainings.

As an interagency project, ProCap seeks to contribute professionals from UN organisations and emergency ros- to the humanitarian system’s protection capacity through ters with a variety of skills that will allow for more effective reliable and effective deployment of personnel with proven protection deployments in the field. The training is held in expertise. ProCap reinforces the strategic and operational both French and English. New in 2013 was a French pilot protection responses for IDPs and other vulnerable groups training focusing on a single country, the DRC. in emergencies and protracted complex crises, whether disaster- or conflict-related. It is a critical part of the global Overall, ProCap advisers undertook 21 assignments in 14 interagency capacity-building effort, and works closely with countries in 2013. Their work ranged from coordination of and supports the Global Protection Cluster (GPC). protection activities in conflict and natural disaster contexts to regional preparedness efforts, protection mainstreaming The focus of ProCap’s deployments in 2013 was support and development of IDP protection policies and durable of protection clusters and humanitarian country teams in solution frameworks. One ProCap expert, for instance, was analysing and addressing protection concerns. In addi- instrumental in the process of developing a national policy tion, ProCap supported global protection activities through for addressing internal displacement in Yemen, while two deployments to the GPC based in Geneva and the Global ProCap advisers deployed to Syria, Lebanon and Turkey Food Security Cluster based in Rome. NRC also arranged worked to strengthen the inter-agency coordination of pro- five inter-agency protection capacity trainings in 2013. tection activities for Syrian refugees and IDPs there. The objective of the ProCap training is to provide mid-level

5.2 GENCAP The Gender Standby Capacity Project (GenCap) is a project of the Inter-Agency Standing Commit- tee (IASC) Sub-Working Group on Gender in Humanitarian Action. Through deployment of experienced senior gender advisers, the GenCap roster seeks to ensure that the distinct needs of women, girls, men and boys are considered in all areas of humanitarian response.

Established in 2006, GenCap is managed by the NRC and Throughout their deployments, the advisers helped make consists of 33 gender advisers who can be deployed on gender concerns an element of all forms of humanitarian short notice to the UN Humanitarian/Resident Coordina- response. They supported the implementation of — and tors. The primary goal of GenCap is to build the capacity promoted consistency in the use of — the IASC Gender of country-level humanitarian actors to promote gender Marker within and across consolidated appeals processes equality, including the prevention of and response to GBV and pooled funds. In cooperation with the GBV Area of in the initial stages of rapid-onset emergencies, as well as Responsibility of the Protection Cluster, GenCap has cre- in protracted or recurring humanitarian crises. ated a rapid-response team of four GBV advisers. In 2013, the members of this team were deployed to support GBV In 2013, GenCap deployed gender advisers on 17 mis- prevention and response in early stages of humanitarian sions to 14 different countries in three regions. In addition, crisis and at critical junctures in chronic emergencies in eight advisers were deployed at a global level, including Asia, MENA and Sub-Saharan Africa. For instance, two an adviser working with the IASC Gender Marker, a tool GBV experts and two gender experts were deployed to for rating the gender sensitivity of project proposals.13 the Philippines shortly after Typhoon Haiyan to ensure that

(13) For more information on the IASC Gender Marker, see: http://www.humanitarianresponse.info/themes/gender/the-iasc-gender-marker.

48 gender and GBV issues were taken into account in the GenCap advisers have made an effective contribution to crisis response. raising awareness and increasing the understanding and acceptance of the importance of gender as an issue for Feedback from a recent project evaluation indicates that consideration in broader humanitarian contexts. They did GenCap plays a critical part in building interagency capac- so mainly by introducing the Gender Marker and by offer- ity into the humanitarian reform process and in particular ing training to humanitarian actors in country, as well as a into the cluster approach. The evaluation also states that broad range of other activities. 5.3 ACAPS

The Assessment Capacities Project (ACAPS) was established in 2009 to strengthen coordinated humanitarian assessments before, during and after crises. The ACAPS roster – consisting of 42 trained assessment experts – is an essential element of ACAPS, which has its operating headquarters in Geneva and is administered by the NRC in Oslo.

The purpose of the ACAPS roster is to deploy trained widely credited to have been the first coherent analyses of assessment experts to provide multi-sector needs assess- their kind. The SNAP team is currently comprised of nine ments at all stages of a crisis. ACAPS experts also work ACAPS experts based in Lebanon, Turkey and Jordan. to build humanitarian actors’ capacity through training and ACAPS also deployed four experts to UNHCR in Leba- help develop a range of information and analysis products. non and Jordan, where they contributed to the design and Support from the ACAPS roster can be requested by any implementation of a framework for aid effectiveness. IASC member, UN agency, NGO or government, provided that the assessment includes more than one agency or is Throughout the year, ACAPS members engaged in a total multi-sector in nature. of 32 deployments – amounting to over 100 person-months – in eight different countries. The missions ranged from In 2013, ACAPS’s work was dominated by the response to real-time assessment of water-logging in South-Western the Syria crisis, in which one of the priorities was ensuring Bangladesh to supporting the Joint Rapid Assessment of that the project’s activities in the region were complemen- Northern Syria (J-RANS), which remains the only coordinat- tary and contributed to a shared situational awareness. In ed needs assessment that has been conducted in Northern December 2012, the Syria Needs Analysis Project (SNAP) Syria. The wide range of activities and contexts in which was set up as a partnership between ACAPS and the ACAPS experts have been involved highlights the contri- UK-registered NGO, MapAction. The project has produced bution that ACAPS continues to make and the increasing monthly regional analyses for Syria, which have been demand for its services.

5.4 STANDBY TEAM OF MEDIATION EXPERTS

The stand-by team of mediation experts (SBT) is a specialised resource that was established in 2008 as a service of the Mediation Support Unit (MSU) of the UN Department of Political Affairs (DPA). The team can be rapidly deployed to the field on a temporary basis to provide technical advice to UN and country officials and other partners involved in mediation and conflict prevention.

The SBT is managed jointly by the MSU and NRC and Malian government and Tuareg rebels in Northern Mali. SBT enables rapid deployment of high-level experts on power members also provided technical advice to the UN Special sharing, constitution drafting, security arrangements, gender Adviser in Syria and had discussions with civil society and social inclusion and natural resources to the UN and UN- groups and the diaspora in search of political solutions to supported mediation processes worldwide. The support is the Syrian conflict. flexible and pragmatic and can be adapted to the needs and demands of a particular situation. For example, team mem- When not deployed in the field, the SBT members are on bers may provide advice and lead workshops on procedural permanent standby, conducting research and coordinating and agenda-setting issues in mediation processes. They may reviews of best practices in their areas of expertise. The also analyse the positions of parties in negotiations, draft team members are also responsible for producing opera- peace agreements and provide overall technical assistance. tional guidance notes and training materials. In addition, the SBT members assist the MSU with the development of In 2013, the team consisted of eight experts employed on networks of experts in their areas of expertise. The innova- a full-time basis, who throughout the year undertook 112 tive support structure of the SBT has provided additional deployments to 58 countries. The experts’ work included visibility and recognition of the UN as a peacemaker and providing advice on the design of political and legal frame- sensitised and enriched the UN DPA with knowledge of works in Yemen, supporting the Ugandan government’s mediation processes. In this way, the SBT continues to facilitation of talks between rebel groups and the govern- challenge and support the UN’s management of mediation ment army in DRC, and assisting negotiations between the processes.

OTHER STANDY ROSTERS 49 A WFP helicopter delivers food supplies to Dorein, an isolated village in South Sudan’s Jonglei state. In 2013, NORCAP deployed 14 experts to support partner organisations’ operations in South Sudan. (Photo: T. Irwin/UNHCR) 6 ROSTER DEVELOPMENT

This chapter reports on developments within recruitment, competence building, staff care and communication

6 6. ROSTER DEVELOPMENT

Providing the right person at the right time and place requires targeted roster management. An essential part of NORCAP’s work is staying abreast of trends in requested competencies and developing the skills of the roster’s 680 multinational members. This includes recruitment, competence development and staff care.

6.1 RECRUITMENT

Recruitment of new roster members with relevant expertise ENSURING ROSTER BALANCE is a crucial part of NORCAP’s work to consolidate its posi- As illustrated in Table 6.1, 42 per cent of the new recruits tion as a preferred standby partner. During consultations in were from Norway, while the remaining 58 per cent were 2013, UN agencies commended NORCAP for its diversity from Africa, Asia, the Middle East, the Americas and in terms of nationalities, language skills and gender. This elsewhere in Europe. Forty-four per cent of the new roster diversity is a direct result of targeted recruitment activities, members were women. Although this generally meets in which NORCAP works to uphold and strengthen the NORCAP’s aim of increasing the proportion of women in expertise and balance of the roster. the roster, a closer look shows that a significant proportion (58 per cent) of the new female roster members was For 2013, the objective was to recruit 100 new roster from Norway. Since NORCAP still experiences challenges members to NORCAP. However, due to effects of financial when it comes to ensuring gender balance among non- prioritisation of operational activities, one of four planned Norwegian deployees, the NORCAP secretariat is working recruitment rounds was cancelled, resulting in a total of 71 to address this imbalance through targeted recruitment of new experts recruited to the roster. The average number women, for instance through recruitment advertisements of applicants per recruitment round was similar to last year in relevant international women’s fora. The proportion of (324 in 2012 and 319 in 2013), but the applicant pool was women among non-Norwegian deployees reached 33 per comparatively stronger in 2013, making it harder to decide cent in 2013 (up from 31.7 per cent in 2012), and with a on candidates to invite for interviews. This suggests that view of reaching NORCAP’s goal of at least 35 per cent, NORCAP is attracting highly qualified candidates, and in this focus will continue in 2014. order to select the right people for the roster, it is important to continue to develop the recruitment process.

TABLE 6.1: NUMBER OF NEW MEMBERS BY REGION

Norway Africa Asia Middle East Europe/America Total

Female 18 4 4 3 2 31

Male 12 18 5 1 4 40

Total 30 22 9 4 6 71

52 RECRUITING THE RIGHT EXPERTISE In accordance with needs identified by NORCAP’s compe- TABLE 6.2 RECRUITMENT BY AREA OF EXPERTISE tence panel, the three recruitment rounds in 2013 were all targeted at candidates with specific operational expertise Category of Expertise No. of Recruits and language skills. These requirements were clearly Protection 18 communicated in recruitment advertisements and social media. As shown in Table 6.2, this resulted in recruitment Information Management and Technology 17 of a variety of profiles, dominated by experts in information Coordination and Leadership 11 management and technology, protection and coordination and leadership. Among the new members, more than Peacekeeping 7 50 per cent were also proficient in French and/or Arabic, Communication 4 responding to the expressed need by NORCAP’s partner organisations for experts with these language skills. Rule of Law and Legal Affairs 4 Social Affairs and Livelihoods 3 With a specific aim of recruiting more highly experienced Norwegians to the roster, NORCAP re-activated its agree- Health and Nutrition 3 ments with Statistics Norway and the Norwegian Institute Engineering 2 of Public Health (NIPH) and signed a new agreement with Engineers Without Borders - Norway (EWB) in 2013. Camp management 2 Statistics Norway has provided personnel with sought-after Total 71 expertise on food security, census methods and analysis. NIPH will support with relevant health personnel. The EWB agreement is intended to recruit more Norwegian engineers to the roster in response to the increasing demand for technical experts.

6.2 COMPETENCE DEVELOPMENT

In order to maintain a roster that can offer an adequate With a view to developing the competence of roster distribution of need-based skills and competencies, training members with little or no UN or field experience but strong and updating of roster members’ practical and theoretical technical backgrounds, NORCAP continued its Field In- knowledge is a key priority for NORCAP. To this end, 122 troduction Programme in 2013. As part of the programme, NORCAP members received the opportunity to participate NORCAP deployed four less-experienced roster members in 27 internal and external trainings in 2013. to Haiti, Kenya and Mali, where they were trained and men- tored by more experienced roster members from NORCAP, During the year, NORCAP organised three four-day induc- GenCap and ProCap in the areas of shelter, gender and tion courses that introduced 63 newly recruited roster protection. Follow-up shows that half of 2012’s Field Intro- members to the guiding principles of NORCAP, the NRC duction Programme participants were redeployed in 2013. and their UN partners. An additional 59 roster members participated in 24 trainings organised by UN partners and A NORCAP survey in September indicated that relevant other training providers, within areas such as protection, and frequent training opportunities are an important moti- coordination, security and logistics. As in 2012, one of vating factor for members to remain available for NORCAP the courses – co-facilitated by NORCAP and UNICEF – deployments. A UNICEF study released in October simi- focused on education in emergencies and was attended larly confirmed that NORCAP members are highly satis- by seven NORCAP members and 11 members of other fied with the NORCAP induction course. Yet, the study standby rosters. Gender equality was achieved among the also revealed that several NORCAP experts deployed to 122 NORCAP training participants, 41 of whom were from UNICEF during the past two years had not attended the Norway and 81 from other parts of the world. NORCAP induction training. NORCAP is taking this into consideration, and will work to increase the proportion of induction-trained deployees in 2014.

ROSTER DEVELOPMENT 53 6.3 STAFF CARE

NORCAP places strong emphasis on the welfare of the the roster members’ country of residence after their return staff it deploys to conflict and disaster areas. Accumu- from a mission. In 2013, there was an increase in deploy- lated stress, harsh working conditions, security threats, ees opting to see a counsellor, which is seen as a positive and personal and cultural challenges are issues that affect trend by NORCAP as it shows that roster members are deployees. Close engagement with roster members before, taking personal responsibility for their mental wellbeing. during and after their deployment is critical to NORCAP’s staff care scheme, which consists of five components: In addition, NORCAP organises optional debriefing seminars, which serve as valuable fora for experience- 1. Personal contact between assignments sharing and learning from other roster members. In 2013, 2. Briefing and preparation before deployment 3. Follow-up in the field 4. Post-assignment debriefing (individual sessions and seminars) The good way I am taken care of as a 5. Voluntary counselling with psychologist/psychotherapist “deployee, is the main reason why I am still a NORCAP deployee. This scheme has been developed over time in close coop- ” eration with roster members, who are an important driver The group debriefing was very useful, not of future improvements. NORCAP strives to organise a “only to share, but to listen to the experiences personal debrief with all members who have been on mis- of the others. sion, either face-to-face or by Skype/phone. NORCAP also ” offers deployees up to ten sessions of voluntary profes- Quotes sional debriefing with a psychologist or psychotherapist, from participants at the debriefing seminars either at the place of deployment during mission or at the Centre for Stress and Trauma Psychology in Oslo, or in

INSIGHT INTO THE DEPLOYMENT PROCESS Line Begby, centre, with fellow NORCAP members solving a puzzle during the induction Few roster members have been more training in March 2013. (Photo: NORCAP) involved in NORCAP’s deployment admitted to the NORCAP roster. There was no guarantee process in a shorter time span than that she would be deployed quickly, but previous UN expe- Line Begby. In the past year and a half, rience considerably increased her chances. she was recruited, trained, briefed, de- Induction Training ployed, debriefed, and deployed again. Her first stop was NORCAP’s one-week induction training to learn more about the organisation and the challenges of emergency work. ‘The training was also a good opportu- Recruitment nity to meet people who had already been on missions and Looking over Line Begby’s CV in the autumn of 2012, hear about their experiences,’ she says. ‘In hindsight, the NORCAP’s recruiters quickly saw that she was a promis- training could have prepared us even better for the chal- ing candidate. The 33-year-old Norwegian had worked as lenges of the working environment. Not everyone you meet an information officer for the UN Association in Norway lives up to the expected values and ideals.’ before going to Switzerland and Fiji as an associate expert on gender equality with the International Labour Organi- Before Deployment sation. After interviews and reference checks, Line was In April 2013, Line was given her first assignment to UNFPA in

54 NORCAP organised four such seminars, three in Oslo and a deployee. Starting in 2013 NORCAP staff with different one in Dubai, which were attended by 66 roster members. competencies – such as psychotherapy and recruitment – At the seminars, roster members shared and discussed participate in the debrief team, giving new insights into how to personal challenges related to harsh working conditions deal with stress management and work-life balance. With the with little time to rest, feelings of insecurity and loneliness, objective of improving follow-up with deployees, staff from the separation from family and friends and frustrations with the Expert Deployment Department also participated in a series of UN system, as well as the more enjoyable aspects of being internal communication seminars in 2013.

6.4 COMMUNICATION AND REPORTING Through continued reporting and information dissemination, In addition, the Information Corps – consisting of Norwegian NORCAP more than doubled the visibility of its deployees’ NORCAP members and former NRC employees – organised work in 2013. Several new initiatives contributed to this objec- twelve presentations about NORCAP, NRC and international tive. First, the NORCAP secretariat implemented a more sys- humanitarian operations for schools, civil society organisations tematic reporting scheme to collect information from its experts and employees at asylum-seeker centres. in the field, providing an opportunity for strengthened follow-up and focus on the outcomes and impact of their work on mis- On Facebook and Twitter, the public can now receive news sion. Second, the NORCAP newsletter was launched and and updates about the roster and its experts in the field. On is now shared with over 1,200 recipients, including partners, LinkedIn, NORCAP members connect and learn from each roster members and the interested public, four times a year. other. Finally, NORCAP’s website is bringing all of the above Third, NORCAP continued its outreach to Norwegian print and together with more in-depth reports, up-to-date statistics and broadcast media with stories from deployed experts on mission. other information. Read more on www.norcapweb.no.

Afghanistan as coordinator for from recent missions. ‘Each participant got the opportunity the GBV sub-cluster. Before to talk about their specific challenges in a confidential set- deployment, Line met with her ting,’ Line says. ‘This allowed us to get new perspectives NORCAP deployment adviser, and support from the others in the smaller working groups.’ who would monitor her and the assignment’s progress. She For Line, the best way to cope with a stressful mission also did quite a bit of research was to keep in touch with friends and family at home, while herself, reading up on reports, developing social and professional networks on the job. studies and articles and talking ‘When I left for Afghanistan, I had planned to spend my to people who had been to spare time working out in the gym,’ she says with a smile. Afghanistan to learn from their ‘My plan failed – instead I got a lot of good friends that I am experiences and insights. Line Begby at Oslo Airport, ready still in contact with.’ to start her mission with UNFPA in Afghanistan. (Photo: NORCAP) During Deployment In September 2013, Line Begby was deployed again, this Afghanistan is not an easy first posting. In addition to sui- time as a GBV specialist for UNFPA in Lebanon. cide bombers and other security threats, the work situation was at times challenging. Line used her NORCAP deployment adviser actively for advice and support. ‘What many don’t realise is that they are there to help you with various challenges,’ she says. ‘My focal point knew the context and provided useful tips and plenty of empathy.’ Debrief After finishing her assignment, Line first had an individual debrief conversation with her deployment adviser and staff care adviser at NORCAP, and also participated in NOR- CAP’s debriefing seminar in Oslo in August. The two-day NORCAP debrief seminar, August 2013. (Photo: Martin Skullerud) seminar allows roster members to process experiences

ROSTER DEVELOPMENT 55 An outdoor school in Laghman province in Eastern Afghanistan. Many of the children are internally displaced from neighbouring provinces. (Photo: Christian Jepsen/NRC) LIST OF ACRONYMS

ACAPS Assessment Capacities Project AFDEM African Civilian Response Capacity for Peace Support Operations AU African Union CAR Central African Republic CCCM Camp Coordination and Camp Management DRC Democratic Republic of Congo DRM Disaster risk management DRR Disaster risk reduction ECHO European Community Humanitarian Office EWB Engineers Without Borders FAO Food and Agriculture Organisation (UN) FDMA Federally Administered Tribal Area Disaster Management Authority GBV Gender-based violence GenCap Gender Standby Capacity Project GPC Global Protection Cluster HQs Headquarters IASC Inter-Agency Standing Committee IDP Internally displaced person IGAD Intergovernmental Authority on Development IMT International Monitoring Team IOM International Organisation for Migration LACS Local Aid Coordination Secretariat MENA Middle East and North Africa MILF Moro Islamic Liberation Front MSU Mediation Support Unit NAT.GOV. National governments NGO Non-governmental organisation NIPH Norwegian Institute of Public Health NMFA Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs NOROBS Norwegian Standby Roster for Civilian Observers NRC Norwegian Refugee Council OCHA Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UN) OHCHR Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (UN) ProCap Protection Standby Capacity Project RRT Rapid response team SBT Standby Team of Mediation Experts SPREP Secretariat of the Pacific Regional Environment Programme TIPH Temporary International Presence in the City of Hebron UN United Nations UNDP United Nations Development Programme UN DPA United Nations Department of Political Affairs UNEP United Nations Environment Programme UNESCO United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation UNFPA United Nations Population Fund UN–HABITAT United Nations Human Settlements Programme UNHCR United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees UNICEF United Nations Children’s Fund UNRWA United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East UN WOMEN United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women WASH Water, sanitation and hygiene WFP World Food Programme (UN) WHO World Health Organisation

An outdoor school in Laghman province in Eastern Afghanistan. Many of the children are internally displaced from neighbouring provinces. (Photo: Christian Jepsen/NRC) LIST OF ACRONYMS 57 NORCAP ANNUAL REPORT 2013 REPORT ANNUAL NORCAP ANNUAL REPORT